Heroes of Olympus: Heart of a Hero
by ArcherDaughterofApollo
Summary: Sequel to Journey to Greece. The 7 heroes have arrived in Greece and are ready to fight the Giants. But what happens when one of them is called to make the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE to save the others? The heroes learn what it really means to have a hero's heart
1. Prologue

**Alright guys, this is Heroes of Olympus: Heart of a Hero. It's the sequel to my story Heroes of Olympus: Journey to Greece. If you haven't read that story, I suggest you go back and do that before you read this one. But still read this one ;)**

**Enjoy =)**

**Prologue:**

Thalia looked down the hill at the peaceful valley below. Not much had changed in the past eight years. The scenery was still the same, with the same activities and same old cabins. What had changed were the campers. In the past eight years, Camp Half Blood had almost tripled its population. And almost all the campers were new. At least they were to Thalia. These weren't the same demigods she had fought side by side with in the wars. No, this was the next generation. A generation that at one time, they hadn't been sure if it would come. But now they were here, and they were destined to live in peace… as much peace as demigods could.

"I remember back before the civil war," Thalia's companion (and best friend) Adria said. "This looks a lot like it did then. Except the Big House was white."

Thalia laughed. "Isn't that, like, the only paint color they had back then? All the fancy farm houses were white."

"Or brick," Adria added. "But yes, white was the most common color for houses then."

"I think it still is," Thalia muttered. Then she smirked at Adria and said "Probably because it goes so well against the sky."

"No, it is best with the sea," Adria argued.

"Only if you have a beach side house," Thalia pointed out. "And not a lot of people have those. But yet everyone's house has some form of sky backdrop."

Adria mumbled something inaudible; Thalia guessed it was something in Latin about stupid daughters of Zeus. Which, of course, only made Thalia laugh. She and Adria were probably one of the oddest pairs of best friends. Thalia was the Greek daughter of Zeus, and Adria was the Roman daughter of Neptune. They were both Hunters of Artemis/Diana, and both first lieutenants. No one had expected them to get along, but they did.

"Come on, Grumpy Gills. Let's go find Chiron, or someone else we actually might know." Thalia started running down the hill, Adria following close behind.

It was a quiet day a Camp Half-Blood. With the older kids training, Emily Williams and her students were undisturbed. Emily loved working at Camp. Even though she had grown up at the Roman demigod camp, Camp Half-Blood was still one of her favorite places in the world.

Emily had been taking her young class for a walk around the camp. The little kids loved that. They were standing at the base of Half Blood Hill, and Emily was telling the kids what the gold thing hanging from the tree branch was.

"Miss Emily?" A little girl asked, pulling on the tail of Emily's t-shirt.

"Yes Crystal?" Emily said, bending down to look the small girl in the eyes. Crystal was a daughter of Poseidon, and like the majority of Emily's students, was six years old. "What is it sweetie?"

Crystal pointed up to the base of the tree. "There are two girls up there," she said in her sweet six year old voice. "I've never seen them before. But they're coming towards us. Who are they?"

Emily looked up to where Crystal had pointed. A smile spread across her face when she recognized the two girls walking down the hill. "That's Thalia and Adria," Emily explained. "They're really good friends."

As the two Hunters reached the group, Emily could see the smiles on both of their faces.

"Hey guys," Emily said. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much," Thalia said. It was odd for her to see Emily so much older than her and Adria. She had to be about twenty-four by now. "We were in the area and decided to swing by. How's it going Emily?"

"Not bad. You'd guys won't believe how well the Roman and Greek demigods get along. It's like we were never separated."

"Really?" Adria asked. "I never thought it would be possible."

"Me either," Emily agreed, "But apparently we were wrong."

That's when another teenage girl ran up to Emily. "Hey Emily, uh Chiron sent me to get you. He says that Trish and Tina are fighting again."

Emily groaned. "Thanks Maya. I'll go straighten it out."

Maya ran off and Emily turned back to the Hunters. "Trish and Tina are two of my sisters. They're twins and fight all the time," She explained. "Could you two watch these guys till I get back?"

"Sure," Adria said.

"Uhh," was Thalia's response.

"Thanks guys," Emily said. "They should be fine; these are probably the best kids at camp."

She ran off leaving Thalia and Adria to kid-sit.

Thalia looked at the small group. There were six students, age's six to eight. "So," Thalia told them. "What do you guys want to do?"

"Well, whenever we stop here, Miss Emily usually tells us a story," Crystal said.

"A story?" Thalia asked. She whispered to Adria "I'm not good at telling stories."

"What kind of story would you like to hear?" Adria asked the kids.

"A love story!" a pretty little girl said.

"No way!" a bigger boy said. "It needs to be a war story! It needs to have a lot of action!"

"Yeah," another boy said. "But it needs to be funny too."

The two Hunters thought for a moment. Then Adria had an idea. "Why not tell them about the fight in Greece?" she asked Thalia.

"Ooh! Good idea!" Thalia said. Then she turned towards the kids. "Alright guys," she said. "We've got a really good story, so why don't we all sit down and we'll tell you."

All the students sat down in a circle around the two Hunters. Once everyone was settled, Adria started the story.

"This is a true story," she began. "It happened not too long ago; about eight years, to be exact."

"It's about seven of the greatest heroes that have ever lived," Thalia said. "These heroes went against all odds to save the world."

"And even with everything going against them," Adria continued. "They were brave and courageous enough to keep fighting."

"Who were they?" Crystal asked curiously.

"Who were they?" Thalia said with a smirk. "Well, tell me this… have you ever heard of someone by the name of Percy Jackson?"

"He was a son of Poseidon," Crystal answered. "Right?"

"Right," Thalia said. "He was one of the seven; maybe even the most important."

"I wouldn't go that far," Adria said. "Jason and the others played very important roles also."

"Who's Jason?" one of the kids asked.

Thalia grinned. "Jason's my brother. A son of Jupiter. And you're right Adria; the others did all have their own special roles to play. For some, it wasn't quite the role they had imagined."

"And for others, it was a much greater role than they could ever have dreamt of," Adria said.

"But who were the other five?" Crystal asked.

The other kids all shouted in agreement.

"Well," Thalia said. "We've already mentioned Percy Jackson, and my brother, Jason Grace. The others weren't children of the Big Three. And they were probably the one of the first groups of mixed Greek and Roman demigods."

"And the most corporative. I've never seen a group get together as well as they did," Adria said.

Thalia nodded. "Percy was Greek, and Jason was Roman. But Queen Hera pulled a stunt and switched the two of them. As you can probably guess, that went over incredibly well."

"Right," Adria said, giving Thalia a skeptic look. Then she turned back to the students. "Two of the other five were girls from the Roman camp. One was a daughter of Mercury, Halley Cabrio. The other is a daughter of Apollo, Reyna Matthews. She is also a Hunter, like us."

"Yep, and the other three were all from Camp Half Blood. One, a daughter of Athena named Annabeth Chase, was my best friend. She's Percy's girlfriend. Then there's Piper McLean, a daughter of Aphrodite. She was Jason girlfriend. And then there was Leo Valdez, a son of Hephaestus. That's all the heroes," Thalia said. "Have you guys heard of them?"

The group all had mixed expressions. "I don't think we have, Miss Thalia," Crystal said.

"Oh, well, that's ok," Thalia said. "We're going to tell you all about them."

"Yes," Adria said. "So why don't we start when they arrived at Greece…."


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright guys, so before I start this chapter I want to point something out:**

**The last chapter was just a prologue. Therefore, the way I worded some of the character descriptions may or may not hold true (I'm talking about was and is usage). Whether I used was or is to describe a character means nothing. It doesn't mean that the character is going to die because I used was to describe them. I just didn't want to be very repetitive so I switched it out some. =)**

**This story's going to be a little bit different because I'm going to be switching POVs a lot. In some chapters I might not even have set POVs. You guys could probably care less about that, but I just thought I'd forewarn you haha =)**

**Disclaimer (FOR THE ENTIRE STORY! I don't see the point in doing one of these every chapter):**** I own nothing you guys recognize. Everything you recognize goes to Rick Riordan. I do, however take full ownership of Halley (she's my favorite haha =])**

**I'm gonna pick up where I left off in Journey to Greece, even though that's probably not where Thalia and Adria would've started telling the story.**

**So here it is guys: Chapter 1, Heart of a Hero! Enjoy =)**

Chapter 1: Beginning of the End

Just as Percy reached for the doorknob, the door flew open. Percy, Annabeth and Reyna found themselves face to face with the rest of the crew. Halley and Jason were standing in the front; both of them had their hands on the hilts of their swords. Piper and Leo were standing behind them. Piper had her knife drawn, and Leo was holding a hammer.

"Uh, hi," Halley said sheepishly. She looked wide awake, even though the dark circles under her eyes were obvious. "What's up guys?"

"We could ask you the same thing," Reyna responded.

"We all had the same dream," Jason explained. "It told us that we had arrived in Greece."

The three that had been up on the deck exchanged glances. Finally Annabeth quietly said "We have." She pointed towards the shadow in the distance. Everyone crowded at the railing to see the land that held their destinies.

"So it's true," Piper said quietly. "We're really here."

They all stood in silence for a few minutes, staring out at the dark shadow of Greece in the distance.

"We should start getting ready," Jason said finally. "We'll be there soon."

"All the armor's below deck," Annabeth said, her eyes not leaving Greece. "The girls can go suit up, then the boys."

The others nodded and the girls headed down below deck to get in their armor. Before she started down the steps, Annabeth turned towards Percy. "I brought your armor from camp," she said to him. "I don't know if you want to use that or not, but just know that it's here." With that she turned and followed Piper down the steps.

The girls threw their armor on pretty quickly. Halley ran her hand over hers. This was her war armor, which she hadn't worn in a while. It was beat up and scuffed, but it still kept her protected, so she continued to wear it.

"I forgot what it was like to see you in armor," Reyna told Halley quietly. "It makes you look so much older."

"And harder," Halley muttered. She looked at Reyna. "Yours makes you look tougher than you usually look."

"What does that mean?" Reyna asked with a laugh. She knew exactly what Halley meant.

"I mean that it takes away some of that 'scrawny daughter of Apollo' look," Halley said smirking.

Reyna punched Halley playfully. "Not all of us were built like Merc kids," she told her.

Piper smiled over at the two of them. "They've known each other for a long time," she told Annabeth.

Annabeth looked over and nodded. "They probably have. From what we've learned from Jason, the Romans start at camp at an early age."

"We did," Halley said. Apparently, she had been listening in on Annabeth's and Piper's conversation.

"I started when I was six," she continued. "Reyna started when she was…" Halley looked at Reyna for help.

"Two," Reyna said quietly. "Jason and I arrived around the same time."

"So you guys pretty much grew up together," Piper said.

Reyna nodded. "Jason is my best friend…"

"Hey!" Halley interrupted, laughing.

"Sorry," Reyna said with a smile. "Jason is my best _guy_ friend. He's like my brother."

"He's just my friend... former best friend of my brother," Halley stated.

"Oh, come on Hals," Reyna said. "You know that's not true. I mean, after all that you and Jason have been through together, I think you can give him a little more recognition than 'just a friend'."

Halley stuck her tongue out at Reyna. "Yes, but I can't exactly call him my brother… more like my cousin, which is weird because he's technically my uncle…"

"Don't hurt yourself Halley," Annabeth said. "We all know that the family tree of a demigod is messed up."

"You're right about that," Halley agreed, laughing. "Anyway, Reyna and Jason have always been like brother and sister. They even fight like siblings."

"We don't fight," Reyna argued.

"Minotaur dung," Halley said back. "You guys used to fight all the time."

"Used to," Reyna pointed out. "We don't now."

The others noticed Reyna's sad tone. Halley understood why she spoke like that. She set her hand on Reyna's shoulder. "Don't worry about it Rey," she said. "Things are gonna get better."

"Hopefully," Piper muttered.

They all looked around at each other solemnly. None of them wanted to voice the words that hung in the air around them. No one wanted to mention the huge war they were getting ready to go fight in. They stood in an awkward silence for a few minutes when Annabeth finally said: "We should probably head on up. The boys still need to get ready."

The other three nodded and started walking up the ladder. Right as Halley was about to start up the ladder, Reyna remembered what Mercury had given her the night before.

"Hals!" Reyna called after her friend.

Halley turned around and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Your dad came by last night," Reyna explained. She reached into her med-bag she always had with her. It was a lot like Halley's messenger bag, except it couldn't magically expand to hold anything. Reyna's bag was strictly used for carrying medical supplies… for the most part. Last night she hadn't had anywhere to put Halley's letter, so she had stuck that and the locket in her bag. As Reyna pulled the two items out of her bag she continued to explain to Halley. "He told me to give these to you."

With a puzzled look, Halley accepted the letter and the little drawstring bag. She opened the bag first, and emptied it into her hand. Reyna could see the tears forming in her eyes as she looked at the locket.

"I can't believe it," Halley whispered. "I… I thought it was gone for good."

"Mercury told me that Dakota asked him to bring it to you," Reyna said quietly.

Halley put the locket on. Reyna couldn't help but smile. "I forgot what you looked like with that on."

Halley smiled too. "I forgot what it was like to wear it."

The girls looked up when they heard footsteps on the ladder. Jason and Leo were making their way down.

When the two boys reached the bottom, they turned to look at the Halley and Reyna. Leo frowned when he noticed the locket hanging around Halley's neck. "Where…?" he started to ask but Jason interrupted him.

"You got your necklace back," he said. "How?"

"Dakota sent it by my dad," Halley explained, gently touching her locket. She stood up taller. "I'm ready to go kick some Giant butt now," she laughed.

"Good to know," Leo said. "Now if you two don't mind…"

"Oh clam it Leo," Reyna said. "You guys are just putting armor on."

She and Halley laughed as they headed up the ladder. Soon after they had disappeared onto the deck, Percy came down to join Leo and Jason.

"Which armor do you want?" Leo asked. "Your armor from Camp Half Blood is over there." He pointed to a shelf off to the side. "Not sure which you would rather have."

"I think I'll wear the Greek armor," Percy responded. "I never did like how the Roman armor fit."

"Same with me and the Greek," Jason said. "It just doesn't fit me right."

"Oh that reminds me Jason," Percy said. "Reyna thought it would be a good idea to bring your armor."

"Good," Jason said, walking over and picking his armor up. Percy and Leo followed his lead. While they were suiting up, a question floated through Leo's mind.

"Hey Jason," he said, "Why did Halley say she was ready to fight Giants _now_?"

"Because she has her locket back," Jason explained. "It was a gift from her brother Dakota. Halley has always fought better when Dakota's with her. They were fighting partners."

"Fighting partners?" Leo asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"When you've been fighting with someone long enough to learn their fighting style," Jason explained, "When you know them well enough that you know what their gonna do before they do it, and they are the same way with you, then the two of you are fighting partners."

Leo looked at Jason like he was trying to make sense of what he had just said. Percy clarified.

"In simpler terms," he said, "your fighting partner is the person you fight best with, and can't fight well without."

"Ohh, ok," Leo said nodding. "So that's how it was with Halley and Dakota?"

Jason nodded. "Halley's an amazing fighter. You could put anything in her hand, and she could figure out how to make a weapon out of it. She told me that she once killed a rattlesnake with a butter knife."

"Seriously?" Leo said in disbelief.

"Yeah, but it's kinda a long story, and Halley tells it best anyway," Jason said.

"Okay then," Leo said. "Now what about her and Dakota and all that?"

"Well Halley was generally a better fighter than Dakota, but Dakota was usually better at planning out what they were doing. Believe it or not, Halley has been known to jump into situations without thinking it through. That was Dakota's job. He was the brain of the two." Jason explained. "That's how most fighting partnerships are… one is the eager fighter who will jump at anything, and the other is the one with a brain in their head."

"Like me and Annabeth," Percy said. "We're both great fighters, but she is a better strategist than me. We've been fighting together for so long though, that we know what the other's gonna do before they do it."

"Now that Halley has her locket back, she feels like Dakota's back with her," Jason continued. "At least, I guess that's what she meant."

By this time, the three boys had finished putting their armor on. They looked around at each other and without saying anything headed up the ladder to meet the girls.

"Where are we gonna land?" Reyna asked, looking at the dark landscape of Greece below her.

"There's a spot," Halley said. She was pointing at a flat piece of ground outside the city limits.

"Which city is that?" Piper asked.

Leo shot a mischievous grin at her before he said "I figured you would recognize your own city, Princess."

"Not funny, Leo," Annabeth said. She knew which city they had just flown over. The others knew too, but Halley, Reyna, and Percy didn't get the joke.

"Princess?" Halley said. She frowned in concentration. Turning towards Piper, she asked "What's your last name, Piper?"

"McLean…" Piper said cautiously. That's when she finally got Leo's joke. Up until that point, she hadn't really considered the little detail.

Piper glared at Leo just as Halley called out "Your dad's Tristan McLean isn't he?"

"Sweet," Percy said. "That movie was pretty awesome."

"For some reason, I didn't think Sparta would look like that," Reyna muttered.

"How did you think it would look?" Jason asked her from behind. "Like the old Greek towns used to?"

"No, I just never thought it would be so… urbanized, I guess."

"Well, you don't have to worry about the urban stuff," Annabeth said. "We're not really planning to enter the actual city. My mom just told me that they believed a lot of the fighting would happen on some of the most honored battlegrounds in Greece. So naturally, we decided on Sparta, which was known for fighting."

"And the giants will be here?" Halley asked.

"We think so," Annabeth said quietly. "This is where the gods are going to meet us, and my mom thinks that the giants will come looking for the gods."

"So which gods will be here?" Reyna asked. She was also thinking about what form they would be in: Roman or Greek.

"Not sure," Jason said. "We figure the Big Three will be there, along with Minerva and Mars, since they're the war gods. Your dad and Diana will probably be there too."

"My dad will be there," Halley said. "He's not one to miss out on a fight."

They all looked out over the side for a few minutes. Well, everyone except Leo. He was at the wheel.

Suddenly, Reyna called out "There! Land there, Leo!"

Everyone looked to where she was pointing.

"What are you talking about Rey?" Halley asked. "There's nothing there."

"No," Reyna said. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "There is something there. I can sense it."

"It's not a bad something, is it?" Piper asked next.

Reyna shook her head. "It's really powerful, but not bad." She opened her eyes and looked at the others. "Can you guys not sense it?"

The other six shook their heads. Reyna frowned and turned back towards the spot.

"I'll go scout it out," Halley said. Before anyone could object, she jumped into the air and flew downward.

"That's what I was meaning by her jumping into things," Jason said to Leo.

Reyna's eyes got wide. "Jason," she said urgently. "You need to go get her. Now!"

"Why?" Jason asked.

"It's the Giants," Reyna explained. "I don't have time to explain it, but you need to go!"

Jason nodded and jumped over the edge of the ship. He controlled the winds to give him a quick but gentle decent. The Giants were the first things he saw, since they were hard to miss. It took him a few seconds to catch sight of Halley, who was crouched behind a huge boulder spying on the Giants.

Jason landed beside her and she looked up at him, an angry, surprised expression on her face. "What are you doing here?" she hissed, yanking him down behind the boulder.

"Reyna sent me," Jason explained. "She realized that the Giants were down here."

"And she thinks I would be stupid enough to get caught?" Halley asked. They were whispering, but Jason could still catch the irritated edge in Halley's voice. That had always been one thing that could tick Halley off quick: not trusting her to do her job.

"I didn't say that," Jason said in Reyna's defense.

Halley glared at him for a second, and then turned back to the Giants. "Which Giants are those?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," Jason said, "But at least there aren't any minions."

Suddenly the hairs on the back of Jason's neck stood up. "Spoke too soon," he muttered, as they both turned around slowly… only to come face to face with Lycaon and his pack of wolf-men.

"You again?" Halley asked. "You're like a bad cold…"

"You can't get rid of me," Lycaon finished, giving Halley a smirking grin. "It's a pleasure seeing you two Children of Rome, but where are your other friends? The _Greeklings_?"

"Somewhere you can't get to them," Jason said.

That's when he heard Halley's voice in his mind: _"You ready to fly?"_ she asked.

"_If it gets us out of here,"_ Jason answered.

"_On the count of three,_" Halley said. _"One…"_

"_Two…"_ Jason continued.

"Hey Lycaon," Halley said. "I just want to tell you…" She glanced at Jason, making sure he was ready to go. "_PULVEREM COMEDES LIGULAS!"_ Halley shouted. **(**_**PULVEREM COMEDES LIGULAS- **_**eat my shoe dust)**

"THREE!" Jason called out.

Both leapt into the air. Unfortunately, Halley's shoes didn't immediately respond, and the wings on her left shoe didn't open fast enough. A werewolf jumped up and managed to grab Halley's left calf in his mouth.

"JASON!" Halley screamed.

The Son of Jupiter looked at the werewolf and a bolt of lightning came down from the sky and hit it dead on. Jason quickly flew down to catch Halley and pull her out of range of the other wolves.

"Thanks, Air Head," Halley struggled to say.

"Can you fly?" Jason asked her. He still had a grip on her arm. Her shoes seemed to be working fine, but her leg looked like it had been through a meat grinder.

"I don't know," Halley said. "He didn't get my shoes, but I don't think I should move my leg any."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a long strip of cloth. As she bent down to tie it around her leg, though, she groaned and started to drop. Jason caught her. "I need to get you back to the ship," He said. Halley couldn't even nod in response. Her face was already pale, and she looked like she was going to hurl any second.

Halley was still conscious when they reached the ship, but Jason could tell that she would pass out soon.

"Reyna!" Jason called as he reached the deck. "I need help!"

The others ran to help him lay Halley on the deck, and Reyna knelt next to her. "She's already lost a lot of blood," Reyna said, "but I think I can heal her pretty easily."

"It'll drain you," Jason told her.

"I know that, Jason, but we don't really have a choice right now, do we?"

Jason didn't respond. Everyone could tell that Reyna was Halley's only option right now.

Reyna closed her eyes, and held her hands out above Halley's leg. No one said anything. It was quiet for a few seconds, then Reyna started signing a hymn to Apollo. Percy recognized it as the same one Will had used when he had been healing Annabeth during the war. Only difference was that Reyna was singing it in Latin.

The way she sang would've been enough to heal most people. Her voice was beautiful. Piper was amazed by it. She had heard all kinds of famous musicians, but none of them could hold a candle to Reyna. This girl just had that naturally beautiful voice that the chart-toppers couldn't compete with.

The group watched as a glow started to form around Halley's leg and Reyna's hands. The pain on Halley's face was unmistakable, but she didn't utter a sound. Apparently, she had been through this before. The glow continued to grow brighter and brighter until finally it dimmed altogether. Halley's leg looked good as new, with the exception of the huge dog bite scar.

"Good work," Jason said to Reyna, gently patting her shoulder.

Reyna gave him a weak smile. "Can you try and walk on it Hals?" she said to her friend.

Halley nodded and Leo helped her get to her feet. She walked around. There was a slight limp in her step, but other than that, she was fine. "I'll be good to fight," she said. "Running will be no problem in a few minutes."

Halley still looked pretty pale, and Reyna was right there with her. "You two rest up while we find somewhere to land," Annabeth told them.

They both nodded and walked over to the side and sat down. Annabeth and Piper went down below to the navigation room to find a place to land. The three boys were busy getting the ship ready to land, since they knew they would be soon.

"Sorry about the Giants," Reyna told Halley. "I didn't realize till you were gone."

"It wasn't the Giants," Halley said. "It was that stupid werewolf king and his friends. I'm gonna run that guy through next time I see him."

"Make sure it's with one of my arrows," Reyna said. "Otherwise, it won't work."

"Will do," Halley said smiling.

Annabeth and Piper came up then. They went over to talk to Leo at the wheel for a minute, holding a map out for him to see. Then they came over to Reyna and Halley.

"We're going to land here," Annabeth said, pointing. It was on the opposite side of the long flat area of land the Giants were standing on. "I Iris-Messaged my mom telling her that. Any fighting should take place far away from where the mortals are."

"Good," Reyna said. "We don't want to endanger them."

Piper nodded. "We think that some of the people here might actually be able to see what's going on. Annabeth has this theory that there are more people in Greece that can see through the Mist than anywhere else."

"Why do you think that?" Halley asked Annabeth.

"With the heritage and the ancestors," Annabeth explained. "I've done some studying, and in all the books I've read, it seems that in the ancient days, being able to see through the Mist was a common ability."

"That makes sense," Reyna said.

"Yep, so we have to be even more careful around here, because more mortals will be able to clearly see what's happening," Annabeth said.

Suddenly, they felt the ship descending. "We're landing," Halley said. She struggled to get to her feet.

"You sure you'll be okay to fight?" Reyna asked her, as Halley wobbled a little on her leg.

"I'll be fine," Halley said. "Besides, it's not like I have much of a choice. You guys need me to fight." She took another step and winced.

"Halley, I don't think you should fight," Jason said.

Halley turned to glare at him. "I'll. Be. Fine." She said through clenched teeth. "I'm not the one you should be worried about anyway.

They all glanced at Reyna.

"Oh no," she said. "You're not benching me. If Halley's fighting, so am I. We don't need to waste time arguing about it, because you know I'll win."

"Reyna," Halley started, "Use your brain. You haven't slept in a day, and you just performed a huge healing job. You won't have the energy to fight."

"Like you said," Reyna said to Halley, "I'll be fine."

Halley was about to open her mouth to argue more, but that's when the ship touched down on the ground. Up until this point, they hadn't seen the need to use the landing gear, but it came in handy now.

"We're here guys," Leo said.

Everyone crowded up onto the steering deck with him. They looked around, and everyone was thinking _what have we gotten ourselves into?_

Staring out at the barren landscape, they could all tell that this had once been a great battlefield. It was like they could almost see the soldiers standing there waiting to fight.

"_Nos morituri…_" Jason started to say quietly

"…_Te salutamus,_" Halley and Reyna finished in a whisper.

"What does that mean?" Piper asked.

The three Romans looked at each other and Jason answered "_We who are about to die, salute you_."

**And that's the end of chapter 1. I'm just going to go ahead and tell you guys, my updates will not be fast. I have most of my major chapters already typed up, but I still have to write all of those filler chapters to put in-between them. That's what takes me so long.**

**Anyway, review… please…. Or else I'll have to send Halley after you and you don't want that =) lol jk.**

**That is something I've realized though. (For all of you who have seen the PJO Movie, you will understand what I'm talking about.) When I watched that movie recently, I noticed that Alexandra Daddario (girl who plays Annabeth) sort of fits the idea of what I think Halley is like. I have nothing against Alexandra, but I don't think she was the right choice for Annabeth. (I wasn't very impressed with the movie… books way better.)**

**Yeah, I know, that was random. Sorry =) I'm a random person.**

**REVIEW! =)**


	3. Chapter 3

**The gods enter the story in this chapter. For simplicity's sake, I'm going to call them by their Greek names when the stories in a general POV. If it's in a certain character's POV**, **then I'll use the name of whatever form that character would see them in. **

**Enjoy =)**

Chapter 2: We Are Family

They stood there, staring at the battlefield. No one said anything. No one moved. It was as if time had stopped, but not in the way Kronos made it. The wind blew across the deck. The girls' hair blew around their faces, but they didn't push it out of the way.

"You have come this far Heroes. Why do you stand there believing you should turn and go back," a voice said from behind them.

The seven heroes turned to see who had spoken. They found themselves facing thirteen gods, the twelve Olympians and Hades. They all knelt in front of the gods.

"Rise Heroes," Hera said. It was her who had spoken first. "The Fates have called you to fight in this war. And fight you shall. You need not kneel in front of us."

"Queen Juno," Jason said, rising to his feet. "We understand that the Fates have chosen us, but will the seven of us be enough?" He saw her and the other gods in their Roman form. So did Reyna and Halley. The other four saw the gods in their Greek form.

"The first time we fought the Giants," Hera explained, "we only had the help of Hercules."

"That might be true, Queen Juno," Reyna said a bit timidly. "But wasn't Hercules older and stronger than us?"

"Stronger, yes. Older… he wasn't much older than you are child. How old are you?" Hera asked her.

"I turned sixteen two months ago, ma'am," Reyna said.

Hera nodded. "Well, Hercules was about twenty when we fought the Giants," she said.

"Queen Hera," Athena said, "If I may interrupt. The Giants will not wait for us to explain all of this to the demigods. They will be approaching soon. We need to be ready to fight."

"You are right Athena," Hera said.

"There's a shocker," Hephaestus mumbled. Leo and Percy tried not to laugh as Annabeth gave them an evil glare.

"The Giants won't be easy to kill," Ares said. "They've been asleep for eons while we just got done fighting Typhon."

"Not to mention the majority of the children are still healing from the war with the Titans," Aphrodite said.

"Give them some cereal," Demeter commented. "They'll be fine after that."

Percy could see Hades rolling his eyes.

"Cereal?" Halley whispered to Reyna.

"Goddess of agriculture, remember," Reyna whispered back.

"But still… cereal? What does that have to do with agriculture?"

"Why, everything, you foolish girl," Demeter told Halley. "Cereal is made out of wheat, which is my symbol of power."

"Uh… okay," Halley responded.

Hera glanced around the group. She noticed the seven heroes kept glancing at their parents. The parents were also studying their children. "Perhaps," Hera said, "we should allow the parents to speak with their children before the fight starts."

No one really knew how to react to this, but they weren't about to argue with Hera. The gods split up. The ones that had kids in the group approached them. The ones who didn't (which was Ares, Dionysus, Hades, Hera and Demeter; Artemis went with Apollo to talk to Reyna) went off to stand guard.

**Leo**

Leo stood awkwardly as his dad approached him. He had never met Hephaestus in person, and didn't really know how to act.

"Hello son," Hephaestus said.

"Hi, uh, Hephaestus," Leo responded.

It was hard to see if there was disappointment in Hephaestus' face. Leo could only tell from his dad's eyes. "You know you can call me Dad, right?"

"I know," Leo said, giving a single nod.

"Then why don't you?" Hephaestus asked him.

"I just..." Leo frowned, not being able to come up with a good reason.

"I understand," Hephaestus said nodding. "Charles was the same way when he first figured out I was his dad."

"Charles?" Leo asked.

"You've probably heard of him as Beckendorf. He wasn't very excepting of the fact that I was his dad at first either. Guess I'm just one of those people you have to get used to."

"I guess," Leo muttered.

"Anyway son, I want you to know I'm proud of you." Leo looked up at him in surprised. Hephaestus nodded. "This ship is an amazing vessel. Its worthy of my own forges. You and your siblings did an amazing job."

"Because were your kids," Leo said.

He was surprised when he actually caught a glimpse of a faint smile under Hephaestus' beard.

"Good work, boy," he said. With a wink he added "And that Halley girl... she's a keeper."

Leo was pretty sure his face was as red as his dad's beard.

**Piper**

"Mom, please stop."

While Leo was busy getting kudos from his dad, Piper was getting the beauty treatment from her mom.

"Honey, you need to look your best when you're fighting," Aphrodite scolded.

"We're fighting," Piper argued. "I'm going to wind up looking awful anyway."

Immediately after she said that, Piper wished she hadn't. With a wave of her hand, Aphrodite beautified Piper. Perfect hair, perfect makeup, clothes beautifully coordinated and flawless.

_At least she left out the dress,_ Piper thought, glancing down at her orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt.To her mom, she said "Why did you do that?"

Aphrodite studied Piper's face. "You want to impress Jason while you're fighting, don't you?"

Piper tried to mask any emotion she felt. "Jason doesn't care about the make-up and the clothes, Mom. He likes me for who I am."

Aphrodite smiled. "I'm so glad you figured that out, sweetheart. So many of my children believe that others will only like them for their appearances, but not you. You know the real reason that people like others. And _that_ is why you are my most powerful child. Because you understand what it really means to be a child of Aphrodite."

**Reyna**

"You look tired. Are you okay?" Apollo asked her.

Reyna looked up at her dad and Diana. Both of them looked like they were in their twenties, not their normal teenage appearance. "I'm fine Dad. I am tired, but I'll be okay."

"Suuure," Apollo said.

"Reyna, we understand you're determined to fight, but are you sure that's smart?" Diana said. "You don't look like you have a lot of energy."

It was taking all of Reyna's will power to not go off on them. She was tired of people telling her not to fight just because she looked a little tired.

"Look," she said, "Dad, Diana, I've already gotten this speech from Halley and Jason… and everyone else on the ship. Please just let it go."

Apollo knelt down to look Reyna in the eyes. "I understand how you feel right now, Rey, but you need to listen to me and Diana. You won't have the strength to fight very long."

"I've fought before when I was this tired. It's part of being a demigod." Reyna stood up from where she had been sitting. "Heroes don't sit out while their friends fight to the death. I have to fight. I don't care if I'm tired or weak. My friends need me, so I'm _going_ to help them."

Apollo nodded. Reyna could see faint smiles on both his and Diana's faces. "You're a strong girl, Reyna," Apollo said. "It's no wonder the Fates called you to fight. You're my strongest child, which you probably already know, but I'm glad you are going to stand by your friends."

"I couldn't not stand by them, Dad," Reyna said. "We came here together, knowing good and well that we could wind up dead. I'm not going to let them fight without me. I mean, who would shoot the arrows? Halley would rather fight with a sword."

"She is your daughter," Diana said to Apollo. "Just as stubborn and pig-headed."

"That would be you, Sis," Apollo replied. "You're the stubborn one."

Reyna smiled. _My parents are the best in the world,_ she thought.

**Annabeth**

"Not all of the Giants have risen," Athena said. "But that doesn't mean it shall be easier to defeat them. To replace the un-risen Giants, they have recruited… helpers."

"Like Lycaon or Khione," Annabeth stated.

Athena nodded. "I not sure if it will be easier or harder this time. The minions won't be as difficult to fight as the Giants, but there will be more of them."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and they won't show up till we're done thrashing Giants," Annabeth said with a smirk.

"We can only hope," Athena said. "But there is something else bothering me. We knew beforehand that the Giants would arrive either around here, Athens, or the original Mt. Olympus. I don't understand why they wouldn't have wanted to go on to the place of their birth, where they're immortal."

"Phlegra?" Annabeth asked. "I don't know… unless… do you think it would've… no probably not." Annabeth frowned, deep in thought.

"That the location could've possibly moved?" Athena asked. "That could be it, but let's pray it isn't."

Annabeth was quiet for a few minutes. "Mom," she finally said, "I… I was wondering…"

"Yes?"

"Well… I was just wondering why I was called to come fight. I mean, I don't have any super special powers… not like the others. Why did the Fates call me?"

Athena smiled. "Annabeth, you are so young, but yet you are still one of my wisest children. You always have been. Since you were young, I knew that you had a great destiny ahead of you. As to why you were called… well, power has its limits, as I'm sure you know. Sometimes even the greatest powers must bow to wisdom."

Annabeth thought back to when Percy had fought Ares. Hadn't she told Percy something similar?

"I think I already knew that," Annabeth said. She didn't say it in a smart-elec way, but in a self-realization way, like she was just now figuring out who she was and what she was meant to do.

"Of course you did," Athena said. "Because you are wise beyond your years. You understand things that some grown adults can't even begin to comprehend. That is why you were called: because when all power and strength fail, your wisdom shall shine through."

**Percy**

Percy looked at his dad. For probably the first time since they met, they had nothing to say to each other. They stayed silent for a long time before Poseidon finally cleared his throat and spoke:

"Glad you're back," he said.

Percy nodded. "Glad to be back."

"So you and Annabeth, huh?"

"Yeah," Percy said, smiling, even though he was pretty sure his face was turning red. _Things can't get any awkward,_ he thought.

"What did you tell your mom?" was his dad's next question.

_He would ask that,_ Percy said, giving a mental sigh.

"I wasn't quite sure what to tell her. I told her that they had found me, and I was back where I needed to be. She asked if I could take off camp for a week or two to come visit her, but I told her I couldn't."

"Did you tell her about this quest?" Poseidon asked.

"A little," Percy admitted. "I tried to water it down as much as I could, but Mom's pretty good at seeing through me."

Poseidon smirked. "She is pretty good at that. How did she take it?"

"Well, she took it okay, I guess. She said she wish I didn't have to go, but that she understood that it was what I needed to do."

"How do you feel about it?" Poseidon asked.

"Same, I guess," Percy said. "I know this is what I'm meant to do, but I really wish that I didn't have to be here. It's just too soon after the Titan war. I'm not sure if we're really ready to fight."

Poseidon nodded. "I understand. Even we gods haven't fully recovered. This will be a hard fight, no doubt."

They were quiet for a few minutes before Percy spoke again. "Did Hera _really_ have to switch me and Jason?"

Poseidon laughed. Not at what had happened to Percy, because he hadn't been too happy about that, but at the way Percy had asked that question. "It was a risky move. When I first heard about it, it took a lot of strength to not pull you out of there. Eventually, I figured out why Hera had done it, and decided to go ahead and see if it worked. But believe me, if anything had happened to you there… well let's say it wouldn't have been pretty."

"No, I guess it wouldn't," Percy said.

"You handled it well though, Percy. The Romans could have easily rejected you, but you proved yourself quick enough to let them except you."

"Yeah, I try hard not to get myself killed in case wonderful opportunities like this come up."

"A good policy," Poseidon said. "Are you going keep it?"

"Like you said, it's a good policy," Percy responded. "Think I'll stick to it. You never know. Might come in handy."

**Jason**

"Porphyrion will be coming after me," Jason said. "He hates me."

"He hates all demigods," Jupiter said. "You were just the lucky one that got to tick him off first."

"Wow, that makes me feel _so_ special," Jason muttered. Then he realized something. "Dad, I didn't see Porphyrion with the other Giants when Halley and I scouted them."

"That's odd," Jupiter said. "Porphyrion is the leader of the Giants. I don't know why he wouldn't have been there with them."

"Unless he's somewhere else," Jason said.

"If that's the case, then we need to find him, but we can't spare anyone to go."

Jason nodded grimly. If Porphyrion was somewhere else, then he could be tearing up the gods' roots while they were busy fighting the other Giants.

"A scheme worthy of Minerva," Jason muttered.

"Indeed," Jupiter agreed.

"So if that's what he did, what are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure son. I guess we should probably wait and see if Porphyrion shows up to the fight. If he doesn't, then I don't know what we'll have to do."

**Halley**

"So I'm still trying to figure out _why_ I volunteered for this," Halley said. She and her dad were up in the crow's nest. Halley was sitting on the railing, and her dad was leaning against the mast. Halley swung her feet in the air.

"Are you nervous?" Mercury asked her.

"No Dad, I'm completely chill," Halley said sarcastically. "Cool as a cucumber. Hanging with the penguins."

Halley gave her dad a dead-serious look that lasted about two seconds before they both cracked up laughing.

"You are nervous," Mercury stated.

"Of course I am," Halley said, looking out in the direction they believed the Giants were going to come.

"That can be expected," Mercury said, "but you should know that the role you are destined to play in this war is different than the ones your other friends will play."

Halley looked at her dad wide eyed. Her thoughts went straight to Reyna's vision. "Do you know about that?"

"Reyna's vision?" Mercury sighed, and suddenly he looked much older. "I know about it, and I can't say that I'm happy about it, as some of the other gods might be able to."

"It's not right Dad," Halley said.

"It's not, but what can we do about it? Gods are forbidden to interfere with the lives of demigods."

"Mostly," Halley pointed out.

"You always look on the bright side of things, don't you?" Mercury asked with a sad smile.

"I have to, or else I'd go crazy."

"That's good though," Mercury said. "It's positive thinkers like you that hold the world together."

"So now I'm glue?" Halley asked with a laugh.

"You could say that," Mercury said. "But that's just how you are, Hals. And that's one of your greatest gifts. Along with loyalty to your friends and family."

"That's not always a good thing, Dad." Her voice was sad as she spoke.

"Maybe not, but you don't get carried away with caring for others."

"That's not true. We had this discussion long ago… I'd rather not bring it up." Halley gripped her necklace.

Mercury set his hand on Halley's shoulder and lifted her chin with his other. He looked into her eyes and said "Never be ashamed to care. Never be ashamed to cry. Use your gifts to your best ability, and never give up."

**Okay, so I know this chapter's kind of short, and I'm sorry about that. Truth is, I ran out of ideas for what each of the parents and their kids would talk about, and I really wanted to end it where I did, because I really like what Mercury told Halley. I'm also sorry if the gods (and any of my other characters for that matter) seem OOC. We don't really get to see much of the gods in the books, and if you haven't noticed, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Hera are different in TLH than they are in the PJO books they appear in. I actually liked Aphrodite in TLH when I hated her in TTC.**

**New chapter soon. Review =)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the wait. Fanfiction messed up and wouldn't let me get into my story to update. It wasn't my fault! **

**Here's chapter 3 guys. I don't really have much else to say, so you guys go ahead and read. Enjoy =)**

Chapter 3: Change of Plans

**Nico**

Nico wasn't too sure he liked the Roman camp. The only bright side about being here for the past week was that he got to see Gwen every day. But even that was starting to not help. Nico felt anxious. He knew that he didn't need to be here. Only problem was, he wasn't quite sure where he was supposed to be.

"Is everything okay, Nico?" Gwen asked him one day.

Nico hadn't really been paying attention. So he startled a bit when she asked him. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine."

"No you're not," Gwen said insistently. "I can see that clearly. Are you worried about something? If you're worried about your friends, don't be afraid to admit it. That's all most of us can think about."

"I know," Nico said frowning. "And I am worried about them. Especially after Rachel's prophecy a few days ago. I didn't hear it, but Thalia told me it was probably one of the scariest prophecies she's ever heard, and that's saying a lot."

"The Hunters are trying to persuade Diana to let them go to Greece, right?"

"I think so. Thalia hasn't really told me much about that…" Nico looked up as he heard a familiar voice calling for Chiron.

"Who is that?" Gwen asked.

"Grover," Nico said smirking. He stood as Grover approached them. The satyr saw the two and ran over.

"Nico!" Grover exclaimed. "Have you seen Chiron?"

"I think he's in Command with Lupa and a few of the camp leaders."

Grover frowned. "Ugh. Well do you know where Thalia might be? It's really her that I need to talk to anyway."

"I don't know where Thalia is. Probably at the Hunter camp outside the boarder," Nico responded. "Why do you need to see her?"

"Do you know whether the Hunters are going to Greece or not?" Grover asked.

"We were just talking about that," Gwen said. "We're not very sure."

Grover looked at Gwen curiously. Nico realized that he should probably introduce the two.

"Oh, Grover, this is Gwen, daughter of Persephone. Gwen, this is Grover…"

"Protector of the Wild," Grover finished proudly. He studied Gwen. "Daughter of Persephone, huh? That's cool. I didn't know Persephone ever had demigod children… or children at all for that matter."

"It's really rare for her to have demigod children," Gwen explained, "since she stays in the Underworld for most of the year. I was a miracle child. My mom became pregnant with me right before she was supposed to return to the Underworld. By the time Pluto found out, she had come up with a way to save me."

"Persephone is pretty clever," Nico stated. "Even if she does hate me."

Gwen laughed. "That's okay, Nico. You're dad hates me."

"No offense, Nico," Grover said, "but is there anyone your dad _doesn't _hate?"

Nico smirked. "Not sure… there are times where I'm pretty sure he hates everyone, me included."

That's when Thalia ran by. She wasn't coming from the direction of the Hunter camp, like Nico had thought. She came running from the opposite direction. Thalia must've been in a big hurry too, because she didn't see them standing there until she plowed Grover over.

"Oh gods," she said. "Sorry Grover. Didn't see you there."

"Ugh, of course not," Grover moaned.

Thalia jumped to her feet and helped Grover up. "What are you doing here, goat-boy?"

"Came to see you," Grover said, brushing leaves out of his fur.

"Me? Why?"

"Are the Hunters going to Greece?" Grover asked.

"Still working on that," Thalia said. "Lady Artemis is already in Greece, so we're having problems getting up with her. And Adria and I aren't about to take off to Greece without her permission."

"Adria?" Grover asked.

"She's the leader of the Roman Hunt," Thalia explained. "A daughter of Neptune. She was born during the Roman Empire."

"That's cool," Grover said. "Bet Percy was surprised to find out he actually has a half-sister, even if she's Roman."

"As far as I know," Gwen said, "Percy never met Adria. He left before she came."

"Oh, okay," Grover said. He turned back to Thalia. "Will you let me know if you guys are going? I promised Percy and Jason I would try to get out there, but I don't really know how."

"Sure thing, goatboy," Thalia commented. "I gotta go now though. Adria said that she's figured out a way to contact Artemis. See ya, guys."

The other three waved bye as Thalia ran off. Gwen turned towards Grover and started asking him stuff about the Wild and stuff like that. Nico tuned them out. He had his own thoughts running through his head.

_So Grover's going to go to Greece?_ Nico thought. _That's interesting._

That same feeling Nico had been having for the past week hit him again. The feeling that he didn't need to be here. _But where do I need to be?_ Nico thought. He looked up and saw a flash of red hair through the woods. Nico knew immediately whose hair that was, and that she was exactly the person he needed to go see.

Walking away quietly so Grover and Gwen wouldn't know he had left, Nico snuck over to where he had seen Rachel. He found her standing in front of the Jupiter and Neptune cabins, a frown on her face.

"Rachel?" Nico said.

Rachel turned around to see who had spoken. Once she realized who it was, she relaxed a little bit. "Oh, hey Nico."

"Why are you here?" Nico asked.

"I… I'm not really sure," Rachel admitted. "I was just walking by, and for some reason decided to stop here for a sec."

Nico looked up at the two cabins. "Do you think maybe it has something to do with Jason and Percy?"

Rachel sighed. "I wish I did, Nico. The truth is… I don't really know anything about what they're going through, or what's going to happen to them." She sighed again and looked at Nico. "Anyway, what did you come to see me about?"

Nico didn't even need to ask her how she knew he had found her for a certain reason. He took a deep breath then said "I just can't shake this feeling that I'm not supposed to be here. I feel like I need to be somewhere else, but I don't know where that place is."

"And you're hoping I can tell you, right?" Rachel said.

Nico nodded.

"I can try, but I make no promises." Rachel studied Nico for a second, and then closed her eyes. Nico didn't really know what to expect… was she going to start speaking in her weird prophecy voice or maybe something else… something worse?

Rachel suddenly opened her eyes and gave Nico a confused look. She shook her head like she was trying to clear it. "I don't understand, but you're right, Nico. You're not supposed to be here."

"But where _am I _supposed to be?" Nico asked.

Rachel looked straight at Nico's face. In a dead-serious tone she uttered one word: "Greece."

**Back in Greece**

"It's almost sundown," Halley stated.

"We've been here a day," Annabeth said. "I figured the Giants would've shown up by now."

"The longer they take, the happier I am," Leo said.

The seven heroes were sitting down in the navigation room of the _Argo II_. The gods were up on the deck, keeping watch. Once it had starting getting late, the gods had sent the heroes below to rest, but none of them could, so they had all gathered in the navigation room.

Piper looked over at Jason. He had been sort of quiet for the majority of the day.

"What's wrong, Jason?" she asked him quietly.

He looked up at her and shook his head. "It's… It's nothing," he stammered. "Just thinking."

"_Just thinking_," Halley said, mocking him. "Come on out and spill Air Head. You've got us interested now."

Jason sighed and said "It's just that… today when we were spying on the Giants, I didn't see Porphyrion."

"And that's a bad thing because…" Leo said.

"You don't get it," Jason said seriously. "Porphyrion's the leader. He has no reason to _not_ be here, unless he…"

"Unless he's somewhere else, working behind the scenes," Annabeth finished.

Jason nodded.

"So if he's not here," Percy said, "We can only assume he has an evil mastermind reason for not being here. What do you think Jason?"

"I can't be sure, but I think maybe he has the other Giants here as a distraction so he can go and destroy the gods' roots without interference."

"A good plan," Annabeth said. "But let's hope that's not the case."

"It is," Reyna said quietly.

Everyone turned towards her.

"What do you mean Rey?" Halley asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked. "That's exactly what he's doing. He knew we would be so preoccupied with the other Giants that we wouldn't be able to go find him."

Everyone was quiet as they let this settle in their minds. After a long pause, Piper finally spoke.

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"We need to tell the gods, so we can figure out what to do," Annabeth said.

"Okay," Halley said, "I vote Reyna, Jason, and Annabeth go to tell them."

Since no one else had a better idea, those three walked up to the deck. They found the gods all sitting around, not surprisingly in the formation of their thrones on Olympus. All of them were wearing serious expressions.

"Uh, excuse me," Annabeth said, emerging out onto the deck. Thirteen pairs of eyes turned to the three demigods.

"Yes, Annabeth?" Athena asked.

"Well, uh, we sort of figured something out," Annabeth said.

"And…" Dionysus said impatiently. Annabeth shot him an annoyed look.

"We figured out why Porphyrion isn't here, and won't be coming," Jason said. He apparently seemed the most comfortable with the gods, for some reason.

Reyna stepped in and told them the same things she had told the others. "Only problem is that we aren't sure of what we need to do now."

Suddenly, an Iris-Messaged appeared in the middle of the group. Annabeth and Jason immediately recognized the girl on the other side of the connection.

"THALIA!" they shouted.

"Hey guys," the daughter of Zeus replied. "I need to talk to Lady Artemis."

"I'm right here, Thalia," Artemis said. "What is it?"

"Well, my lady, Adria and I have both been thinking and we both decided that we need to do something more to help."

"Yes…" Artemis said.

"And we thought that maybe, with your permission, we could travel to Greece and fight with you."

Artemis seemed to consider this. She glanced at Zeus, who gave no sign of what he thought. Reyna suddenly had an idea.

"You should let them come," she said. When everyone looked at her like she was crazy, she explained: "If demigod Hunters come, they can fight in the seven's place while we go find Porphyrion."

"Or the Hunters could go find Porphyrion," Jason said.

"No, I like Reyna's idea," Thalia said.

The gods seemed to consider this. Finally, Zeus said "They are your Hunter's, Artemis. If you believe they should come, then that is fine."

The four demigods tried to hide their shock. Zeus had actually given Artemis permission to make her own decision about something like this…

"Thalia," Artemis said. "You and Adria each choose four of your best Hunters to come with you. Here are your instructions on how to get here." Artemis waved her hand and a silver scroll temporarily appeared in the air in front of her before disappearing and reappearing in Thalia's hands.

"Thank you, Lady Artemis," Thalia said. "We'll be there as fast as we can."

**Thalia**

Thalia and Adria walked out the doorway of the large silver tent. Thalia was holding the silver scroll from Artemis.

Outside they met up with their two lieutenants, Phoebe and Adria's lieutenant Krissy.

"Well?" Phoebe asked when she saw them.

Thalia held up the scroll. "We're going," she said. "I need you to go get Breanne, Kat, and Nia. They're going with us."

Phoebe gave a quick nod and turned to go get the other girls.

"What about us?" Krissy asked Adria.

"We shall be journeying with them," Adria said. "They need our help. We shall be fighting in place of the seven while they find Porphyrion."

"So who is going with us?" Krissy asked.

"You and I," Adria said. "Along with four of our best demigod hunters."

Krissy looked puzzled. "Why just demigods? Some of the nature spirits are much better fighters."

"Because only demigods can be of use in the Giant war," Adria explained. "Because only demigods and gods together can kill a giant."

Krissy nodded like this made sense. "So which ones?" she asked.

Adria considered this before saying "Rachel, Violet, and Carter."

"Alrighty then," Krissy said before giving a quick salute and running off.

Thalia stifled a laugh. "I'm just taking a wild guess here, but I don't think she's been a Hunter that long."

"A little over a year," Adria said. "She is an amazing fighter, a daughter of Victoria. I lost a lot of my other lieutenants last year in the war. That is how she became my lieutenant. But she can be a bit... scatterbrained at times."

"Ah, okay," Thalia said nodding. She knew how that was... after having to deal with Percy.

"You have had experience with people like that, correct?" Adria said.

"More than you know," Thalia said with a laugh. "Most of my hunters are pretty solid headed, but I've definitely fought with a few scatterbrained half-bloods."

"Like Percy," Adria stated. It wasn't a question.

Thalia looked at her with surprise. "Yeah, like Percy. How'd you guess?"

"The sky," Adria said, "unlike the sea, is simple to read. I can tell by looking at the sky that your father is not in a pleasant mood."

Thalia looked up and saw angry storm clouds rolling in. "Yeah, but that doesn't explain how you were able to guess that I was thinking about Percy."

"Oh, well the sky-sea comparison had nothing to do with that. I was just assuming that from the one time I met Percy. He was indeed scatterbrained, but he was still able to lead the campers to victory over my hunters in the war games."

"So you did meet Percy," Thalia stated. "Gwen wasn't sure if you two had or not."

"Yes, but our meeting was brief," Adria stated.

"Uh-huh," Thalia said. She looked down at the scroll. "I need to go tell Grover we're going. Can you…?"

Adria took the scroll. "Do not worry. I will make sure that we follow these."

"Good," Thalia said. She then took off to find Grover.

…

She found him walking through the camp woods, right where she had expected him to be.

"Grover!" Thalia called.

Grover turned to face her. "Thalia!" he said. "Have you heard anything from Artemis yet?"

"We just did," Thalia said. "We're going."

Grover's expression was unreadable. "I don't know whether to be happy or what." He turned his head intently, like he was listening for something.

Thalia immediately reached for her bow. "What is it?" she whispered.

"Someone's coming," Grover answered. "But I don't think it's anything bad. Doesn't smell like monsters."

Thalia relaxed a little. She scanned the woods for whoever this person was. She caught sight of Nico before he saw her.

"Hey Nico!" Thalia said.

The son of Hades looked over. Once he realized who it was that had called his name, he ran over.

"There you two are," Nico said. "I've been looking all over for you guys."

"Why?" Grover asked.

Nico answered Grover's question with a question of his own. "Are you going to Greece?" This question was directed more at Thalia.

"Yeah…" Thalia said a skeptic look on her face.

"I'm coming with you," Nico stated. Before Thalia could even speak again, he told her about his conversation with Rachel.

"Well," Thalia said when he had finished, "can't argue with the Oracle. I'll have to explain to Adria and the other Hunters though. They might not be as excepting as me. But I've known you guys for forever, I'm sure they'll be okay."

"Okay then," Grover said. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible, I would think," Thalia said. "The Hunters are going to fight in the seven's place so they can go find Porphyrion." She looked at the two of them. "What are _you_ going to do?"

"I'm going to rally the nature spirits," Grover said.

"I have no idea what I'm gonna do," Nico said plainly.

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out once you get there," Thalia said. "Let's go get ready, guys."

**In Greece**

Once Reyna, Annabeth, and Jason returned to the navigation room, they were flooded with questions. They quickly explained about the Hunters coming, and the seven of them going to find Porphyrion.

"So let me see if I've got this straight," Halley said. "The Hunters are coming here to do _our_ job, while we go off to _hunt down_ Porphyrion. Does that even make sense?"

"No," Leo said.

"It was Reyna's idea," Jason said.

Halley looked at Reyna in shock. She didn't say anything, but she could tell from Reyna's expression that they would have to talk about this later.

"Well that's great," Percy said with a sigh. "We should probably get to bed now."

"Yeah, we will most likely have a long day tomorrow," Annabeth agreed. She and Percy stood up to leave. "Good night guys." They walked out of the room together.

Leo stood up and stretched. With a yawn he said "I'm gonna hit the hay too, guys. Night."

"Night Leo," Halley said. She didn't sound very cheerful.

Piper and Jason followed Leo. Jason was about to walk after the door, but he stopped and looked at Halley and Reyna who were still sitting at the table. "Don't kill her Halley," he said.

"I'll try not to," Halley said, giving Reyna an annoyed glare.

Reyna sighed.

"You guys do need to come to bed eventually," Jason said.

"We will, don't worry about us," Halley said.

Jason nodded and turned and walked out the door.

When it was just Reyna and Halley alone in the room, Halley turned towards her friend.

"Why, Reyna?"

Reyna kept her head lowered, not looking at Halley. "I... I don't know. It's just... it's what's supposed to happen, okay? We can't challenge fate."

Halley's expression softened. "I know Rey," she sighed. "But you know what's going to happen now. We'll hunt Porphyrion down, and will most likely find him at Mt. Olympus. That's where you said your vision would come true."

"What does it matter Halley?" Reyna said. "We don't need to fight it. As much as we want to, we can't." Reyna looked up at Halley with a sad look in her eyes. "My dad told me, in a letter he sent." She said that barely audible. Halley had to strain to hear.

"He told you what?" Halley asked.

"He told me that what I saw had to happen, or else there was no chance of us winning."

"There isn't much a chance of us winning if it does happen," Halley commented.

Reyna nodded. She didn't need to say anything else.

Halley reached over and gently set her hand on Reyna's shoulder. "Everything will work out," she said. "But right now we should probably get to bed. No doubt tomorrow will be long and hard."

"You're right," Reyna said with a sigh. "Though I doubt I'll get any sleep tonight."

The two girls stood up and walked out of the room. At the door of their cabin, Halley paused. Reyna went on in and climbed into her bunk. Halley looked up at the ceiling. Even though she knew the gods were above on the deck above them, and that they were going to be fighting the same war, she still closed her eyes and prayed.

"Gods, please let us win this war. If the world is going to survive, we need to win this. And please let something, _anything, _happen so Reyna's vision won't come true. We won't be able to fight if it does."

Halley opened her eyes and walked into the cabin. She crawled into her bed and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

**Oooo, plot change =). You guys should've known I couldn't leave Thalia, Nico and Grover out of the main action. What kind of person would I be if I did that? **

**Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay so there's a little less than a month until **_**The Throne of Fire**_** comes out (Kane Chronicles book 2). After that, only a few months till October and **_**Son of Neptune**_**! I seriously can't wait. October can't come fast enough. Have you guys noticed the way Rick does his titles? The first is always The Something Something, then the second is The Something of Something. It's that way with ALL of his series! Just look at PJO for examples!**

**So, anyway, here's chapter four. Sorry it took so long to post, but it was kind of hard to write. I normally write whatever ideas come to mind, but unfortunately all the ideas I've been getting lately were for later chapters.**

**Anyway, Enjoy =)**

Chapter 4: Once You Start Fighting…

_ERRRRRRRRRnnnn! ERRRRRRRRRnnnn!_

Piper's eyes flew open. She jumped out of her bunk, careful not to bang her head. The other three girls were also awake. Piper felt a bump on the floor. Confused she looked up at Annabeth and yelled over the sound of the alarm: "WHAT WAS THAT? AND WHAT IS THE ALARM GOING OFF FOR?"

"ONE OF THE BOYS PROBABLY FELL OUT OF THEIR BEDS!" Annabeth yelled back.

"AND THE ALARM IS PROBABLY BECAUSE THE GIANTS ARE COMING!" Halley called, looking out the port-hole.

"THE GIANTS?" Piper called out.

The other three girls nodded. In the blinking red strobe, their faces looked even more terrified than they normally would have. Piper had to remind herself that for these three girls, this was the second war, the second fight to save the world. They knew exactly what they were going into.

"WE NEED TO GO GET OUR ARMOR!" Reyna shouted.

The four girls sprinted out the door. As they ran past the door to the boys' room, they almost got ran over by the three guys.

"THE GIANTS ARE COMING!" Halley called out. The alarm was even louder in the hallway.

The boys nodded like they understood.

"What was that bump?" Piper asked Jason.

Jason gave her a confused look. It took him a minute to figure out what she meant. "Oh, that. Yeah that was Percy and Leo falling out of their bunks."

Piper laughed. "Annabeth said it was probably something like that."

"Leo! You didn't tell me this boat had an ALARM!"

"This is just as new to me as it is to you!" Leo called back to her.

They reached the armory and threw on their armor. Then they sprinted up to the deck.

"There you are," Mercury said.

"What's up dad?" Halley asked. "What's with the alarm?"

"There's your answer," Mercury pointed out to battleground.

The seven demigods looked where he had pointed. They could barely see little splotches on the horizon. Halley pulled a pair of binoculars out of her bag and put them to her eyes.

"Gah," Halley said, jumping backwards and dropping her binoculars.

"What?" Reyna asked, picking the binoculars up.

"Wow," Reyna said when she looked through them. "That's a lot of giants."

"Correct," Athena said. She handed Annabeth a pair of binoculars.

"Did all twenty-four rise?" Annabeth asked her mom.

"I don't believe so," Athena said.

"No, just the most powerful thirteen, including Porphyrion," Poseidon said.

"Great," Percy muttered.

"It'll be a hard fight," Ares muttered. "You little punks ready to go?"

"Are you, Lord Mars?" Halley said back.

"You're lucky you're needed here," Ares responded in a menacing tone. "Else you'd be smashed to bits right about now."

Halley turned and looked at him, a mischievous smirk on her face. "You couldn't," she said.

"Halley," Mercury said. He sounded serious, even though everyone could tell he was inwardly laughing.

Halley's smirk didn't fade as she said "Sorry, Lord Mars."

Ares huffed. "You just be ready to fight, smarty." He walked off and the others fought to hold in their laughter.

"Gosh, it kills me when he talks to us like we're useless," Halley said.

"Ditto," Reyna agreed.

"Glad I'm not the only one that has issues with him," Percy commented.

"You never have been, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said.

"The Giants are approaching fast," Athena said. "We need to get ready."

"Right," Jason said.

"So what's the game plan?" Leo asked.

"We should try and take out as many Giants as we can before they reach us," Annabeth stated.

"I know who's job that'll be," Apollo said looking at Reyna.

"What are we waiting for?" Reyna replied. "Let's kick some Giant butt."

…

Everyone got in their positions to fight. Apollo, Artemis, Reyna, and Halley were all positioned on the deck of the _Argo II. _The others were on the ground bellow them. The Giants were approaching quickly.

"ARCHERS READY!" Annabeth called out.

The four on the deck pulled their bows back.

"Wait a second!" Halley exclaimed. She dropped her bow and reached into her bag.

"What are you doing Hals?" Reyna asked.

"I know I have some in here," Halley muttered, not paying attention to Reyna.

"Have what?" Reyna asked.

"Here!" Halley said, pulling a jar full of green slimly liquid out. "I knew I had some."

"That's not…" Reyna started to say.

"Hydra blood," Apollo finished. "Good thinking Halley. We can dip our arrow tips in it. Hydra blood is just as poisonous to Giants as it is to us, I mean, you. It'll hurt gods, but it won't kill us."

"I'm scared to find out what else you have in that bag, Hals," Reyna stated.

Halley smirked as she stabbed one of her arrows through the lid of the jar. "Trust me Rey," she said. "You don't want to know."

"Ready your bows," Artemis said.

The four of them pulled their bows back with the new poisonous arrows.

"Waiting for command to fire," Halley called down to the others.

"You say when," Athena told Annabeth.

Annabeth nodded, and looked out towards the Giants and then to the archers above her.

She thought to herself _Wait, wait, wait…_ "FIRE!" she called.

Four arrows zipped over the group's heads. They watched as the arrows flew through the air and hit their targets: two arrows planted into the front two lead Giants. Even though they were still a good distance away, they could hear the Giants crying out.

"Volley two!" Reyna called.

Four more arrows flew across the sky. Giants were hit and fell, only to get back up.

"What the heck?" Halley asked. "It's not killing them."

"Apparently, it's going to take more than arrows to knock those guys down," Reyna stated.

"You're right about that," Apollo said.

"Hand-to-hand," Halley said. "It's the only way we'll get them. Hand-to-hand and powers. That's how we'll have to beat them."

"Good thinking, child," Artemis said. "Let's go to the others."

The four of them jumped off the deck and onto the ground beside the rest of the group.

"Ready to fight?" Jason asked Reyna.

"Are you?" she asked him back.

"You're right, stupid question."

"The Giants will come after the seven of you," Athena said. "I suggest you split up and distract them. Don't let them get you."

"Or game over," Leo muttered.

"Pretty much," Athena agreed. "Attack only when you see a good opening. Save your strength."

"Right," the heroes said.

The Giants were close enough now that they could feel the ground shake under their feet. Whenever a breeze blew through, they all got a whiff of the Giants.

"Oh, gosh they smell." Halley said, covering her nose.

"They'll smell even worse when we get up close," Leo said. "Trust me on that."

"You're one to talk, Valdez," Jason said.

Halley and Piper snickered. They had turned to look at the two boys, and weren't paying attention to the Giants behind them.

"DUCK!" Leo suddenly shouted in alarm. The two girls turned in just enough time to see the huge fireball flying straight at them.

"Gah!" Halley cried as she and Piper fell to the ground.

The others followed their lead. The fireball flew over their heads and almost hit the boat, but Zeus summoned a sharp wind sending it of course.

Piper looked up and gasped. "They... they weren't that close a second ago were they?" she asked pointing to the Giants, who were about two hundred yards off. Two football fields.

"That's a negative," Reyna replied. She jumped to her feet. "Get ready to roll guys."

"When they are about one hundred yards off," Athena instructed the heroes. "That is when you split."

"That'll be in about... two seconds," Annabeth said.

"Halley and I'll take to the air," Jason said, as the seven of them prepared to take off. "The rest of you do your best not to get stepped on."

"Almost there," Leo muttered, referring to the Giants.

"GO!" Annabeth and Reyna both called out.

"FOR SPARTA!" Leo called as he raced into battle. The others tried hard not to crack up laughing.

As if they had rehearsed it, the seven heroes took off in seven different directions: Halley and Jason in the sky, dodging angry fists and weapons of the taller Giants, and the other five zigzagging along the ground, dodging Giant feet- all of which were dragon-ized. There was mixed emotions between all of them. They were all having major feelings of déjà-vu.

As Halley flew over the battle field, she couldn't help but remember back to last summer, where she had flown over a different battle field and had watched her friends fall. With any luck, friends wouldn't fall in this war.

_Yeah, right,_ Halley thought. _Be realistic Hals. This is a war you're fighting here. People die in wars. That's how things work._

Halley watched as the gods started to fight. The seven demigods were waiting for their order to join in. Until then, they were just trying not to get smashed and keep the Giants distracted.

"Halley! Look Out!"

Halley looked up just in time to see Jason flying towards her completely out of control. He plowed into her and they both tumbled through the sky. Halley's shoes had to keep both of them aloft for a moment, because Jason was too disoriented to keep himself elevated.

"Jason?" Halley exclaimed. "What… What the heck are you doing?"

"Some Giant hit me, and I spun out of control," Jason explained as he steadied himself.

"Ouch," Halley muttered, though she was hiding her smile.

"Not really," Jason said. "Not the worst pain I've been in."

"HEROES!" Hera called out.

All the heroes turn their heads towards the direction of Hera's voice.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? FIGHT!" Hera screamed as she dodged a fireball.

"We were trying to do what we were told for once," Halley muttered to Jason as he laughed in response.

**Percy**

As he rushed towards the nearest Giant, Percy couldn't help but think about the last time he had rushed into battle. It was different this time, because they actually had the gods fighting with them. That and the only demigod here that he had any real fighting experience with was Annabeth, not that that bothered him. Percy wouldn't have wanted anyone else to fight beside him.

"Hey Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth called out.

Percy glanced over as he rolled out of the way of a Giant's foot. Annabeth was busy running around getting stabs at the feet whenever she could.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Get Blackjack out of the ship. Reyna needs a better vantage point!" Annabeth yelled.

"Got it!" Percy scanned the sky. He wouldn't be able to make it to the ship, but he figured that Halley or Jason could.

Halley was the first to fly overhead. "Halley!" Percy called out.

Halley looked down at him. Unfortunately, as she did, a Giant swung his spear at her head. Seeing the expression on Percy's face, Halley spun just in time to catch the Giant's blow with her sword.

"Someone ate their Wheaties this morning," Halley muttered as she struggled against the Giant's strength. He succeeded in pushing Halley out of the way. She tumbled through the air for a second, and then went back on attack. "Whatever you wanted Percy, I can't help you!" she called back to him.

"Okay then," Percy said. He started sprinting towards the _Argo II_.

"Hey Percy!" Jason called as he flew overhead. "Where are you going?"

"To get Blackjack," Percy said, jumping out of the way of a Giant's foot.

Jason looked up to the ship. "I got it. You keep fighting."

Jason flew towards the ship and opened the door to the cargo hold. He whistled loudly and then ducked as the pegasus flew over his head.

Blackjack immediately flew to Percy. _Yo boss, whose butt am I kickin' now?_

"Find Reyna," Percy said.

_Who's that?_

"Right here Percy," Reyna said running up to him.

_Whoa boss,_ Blackjack said. _It's a hot chick!_

"She's a Hunter Blackjack," Percy said.

_Ah man. Sucks for you._

"What is he saying?" Reyna asked. They jumped out of the way of another foot and both Reyna and Percy drew their weapons.

"No time," Percy said, slashing at the Giant's foot. "Just jump on Blackjack and fire away."

"No problem."

Reyna jumped on and Blackjack took off. Percy continued cutting at Giant feet. It was a hard fight for all of them. The gods took on the bulk of the battle while the seven demigods worked to slowly weaken the Giants.

"I don't think we're doing much damage," Leo said when he wound up beside Percy at one point.

"We're just ticking them off," Percy muttered.

Leo threw a few fireballs up at a Giant. "These guys are mean. I seriously don't know how long we can last."

"Maybe if we could get up high, and bug them up top…" Percy wondered.

"That would work," Annabeth said. She had her Yankees cap in her hand. "We just have to get up top."

"I've got an idea," Leo said. He ran up to the nearest foot and jumped on it. "Hey Ugly!" he shouted. Then he raised his hammer and slammed it down on the Giant's foot. The Giant lifted his foot and Leo jumped up and caught on to the edge of his armor. Like a monkey, Leo climbed up to the Giant's shoulder.

"He's a…" Annabeth started.

"Genius!" Percy exclaimed, running up to another Giant.

"I was going to say idiot, but…" Annabeth followed their lead.

"Hey guys!" Halley called. She flew down close to a Giant's head and shot an arrow in his ear.

"Argh!" the Giant called out. "You'll pay for that you little insect!"

"Nah-nah! You can't catch me!" Halley laughed.

"Very mature Hals!" Reyna said, flying by on Blackjack. Arrow after arrow was shot from her bow.

"It works," Halley said. "Minerva said to distract them, and hit them when you can." She landed down on a Giant's head, and he tried to reach up and smack her. Halley drew her sword and slashed at his hands. "No you don't," Halley said. "Hands off the insect!"

"Halley, you do know you just called yourself an insect, right?" Percy asked from the Giant's shoulder he was on.

"Yeah, well, I am… at least to him."

Percy slashed at the Giant's head. He had known Halley for over half a year, and yet she still surprised him. He glanced over and noticed Halley was taping something onto the Giant's head she was standing on. Then she jumped off of his head and shot an arrow at whatever it was that she had strapped to him. It exploded with a huge green blast.

The Giant ran away screaming like a little girl. Hermes was waiting for him. With one slash of the god's sword, the Giant disintegrated.

"One down," Halley called out.

"And a whole stinking lot to go," Leo finished. He threw a fireball at a Giant's ear.

"Thank you, Mr. Optimistic," Piper yelled at him. She was still currently on the ground. She screamed and ducked as a Giant swung at her.

"You're missing out on all the action, Beauty Queen!"

"Sorry, can't hear you! To busy trying not to get FLATTENED!"

"Hey Piper! How's it going?" a new voice said.

Piper spun around to see Thalia fighting alongside of some of the other Hunters.

"Thalia? How'd you get here so fast?"

"I have my ways," Thalia said smirking. "Point is, we're here now, so the rest of you need to ship off to find Porphyrion."

Piper nodded then looked up. "The others are all fighting up top."

Thalia looked up and turned a little green. "You go get them, then get to the ship. I'll make sure the gods know."

Piper nodded again then sprinted over to a Giant's foot. Using the same method she had seen Leo and the others use, she climbed up to where the Giant's shoulder.

"Guys, the Hunters are here."

"Already?" Leo asked.

"That was fast," Halley muttered.

"Thalia said to get to the ship. She'll explain to the gods," Piper explained.

"Okay then," Annabeth said. "Let's go!"

Halley flew down and picked Piper up off of the shoulder she was perched on. Jason did the same with Leo. Reyna steered Blackjack by the Giants Percy and Annabeth were on and the two of them jumped on with her.

"To the ship Blackjack," Percy said.

…

When they all landed down on the ship away from the fighting.

"Okay," Leo said, "So now what."

"We set off to find Porphyrion," Jason said.

"But where do we start looking?" Halley asked.

"How about…" Reyna started.

"Athens," Annabeth finished for her.

"Athens?" Reyna asked. "Why…"

"It's a good idea," Annabeth said. "Athens had a lot to do with Greek history."

"It's true," Percy said.

"But why Athens?" Halley asked.

They all looked around at each other.

"I'm not sure," Annabeth said. "But I just have this feeling we need to go there." She looked at Reyna.

Reyna sighed. With a glance at Halley, she said "She's right. We need to go to Athens."

**Alright guys, so I'm sorry if this chapter is kind of awkward and repetitive. I've realized that I'm not very good at writing action scenes with multiple enemies. Don't worry though, the stories going to get much better. I promise. No wait, actually, Halley promises, because she always keeps her promises, right ;)**

**Review! =)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay so I realized that I had Halley getting bitten by a **_**werewolf**_** in the first chapter. Since I can't really go back and fix it, let's just assume that Reyna got rid of all the werewolfy side effects when she healed Halley.**

**And now that that's all cleared up, here's chapter 5. This is a good one, so Enjoy =)**

Chapter 5: Evil Blast from the Past

Once the seven heroes had gotten the _Argo II_ back into the air, everyone sat down to wait out the long ride. Reyna set playing medic on the various scratches they all had. Surprisingly, they had all come out of the fight pretty well. The ones that had spent some of their fight on the ground had scraps from dodging Giant feet. Halley had a cut on her arm where a spear had grazed it. Percy obviously had no marks on him. Jason had a large bruise across his arm and his back from where he had been knocked across the sky and into Halley.

Halley sat down on the steering deck and watched Leo steer. "Tía seemed sort of…"

"Stressed?" Leo guessed.

"Yeah," Halley said. "That's it."

"You still call her Tía?"

"Most of the time," Halley replied. "You know how hard it is to stop calling someone by a different name when you've been calling them something else their entire life?"

"Yeah," Leo said. "I still call her Tía too, so I know where you're coming from."

"It's weird that we never met, considering we lived so close to each other, and had the same babysitter."

"Hera must've had to take extra precautions to make sure we didn't meet."

"Yeah," Halley nodded. She looked like she was deep in thought, because her gaze was far off. "But I don't think it would have really mattered. I mean, we didn't know we were half-bloods then. I learned I was one when I was six."

"You've got me beat," Leo said with a laugh. "I was fifteen."

"That hardly ever happened with Romans. Most of us start camp at very young ages. Jason and Reyna were both two when they started."

"Who's older?" Leo asked.

Halley thought for a moment. "I think Jason is. Reyn told me that they arrived at the Wolf House in June, and that she had her second birthday almost immediately before they arrived. Her birthday's in May, and Jason's is in November."

"So Jason is sixteen," Leo said.

"Yep. He turned sixteen about a month before he disappeared."

"When's your birthday?" Leo asked. It was a random question, but Leo was curious.

"May 22," Halley said proudly.

"So you're younger than Jason?"

Halley nodded. "Reyna's about a week older than me. We usually celebrate our birthdays together. She's more of my sister than any of my real sisters."

Leo nodded. He had never really had any siblings, so he couldn't really relate. Even when Leo had gotten to know his siblings at camp better, he still didn't feel related to them.

"Hey Halley!" Reyna called out from across the deck. She was holding something above her head. It looked like a hacky-sac. "Want to play?" Reyna asked.

"Heck yeah!" Halley said, jumping up. She turned to Leo. "You mind?"

"Nah, go ahead."

Halley smiled and ran down to Reyna. Leo watched as the two of them, Percy, and Annabeth all started playing. They were all pretty good, but Halley was awesome at it. She never let it drop once. Even when the others stopped playing because they were laughing too hard, Halley kept going, even though she was cracking up herself. Percy started timing her while he and Annabeth told Reyna about a time they had been playing hacky-sac with an apple and Grover had swallowed it whole. Reyna almost doubled over laughing.

"That would've been worth money to see," Jason said, walking up behind Leo.

"Ya think?" Leo asked, laughing.

"How much longer till we get to Athens?" Jason asked.

"An hour or so," Leo answered. "Athens really isn't that far from Sparta when you travel by air."

Jason nodded and turned to walk away. But he stopped and turned back to Leo. "Have you thought any about the prophecy?" he asked.

"Which one?" Leo said.

"The Great Prophecy," Jason clarified. "I was just wondering… well…" Jason frowned and sighed. "Never mind. It's not important."

"You're wondering if I've ever thought that maybe it's talking about me with the whole _to storm or fire the world must fall_ thing."

Jason nodded grimly. "I've been wondering the same thing from the storm point of view."

"With any luck, bro, it's not us," Leo said, trying to sound confident.

"Yeah," Jason muttered.

"Besides, according to that prophecy Reyna gave, me, you, and Percy are supposed to lead the group through a really dark night, whatever that means. Doesn't say anything about us destroying the world."

"Maybe you're right," Jason sighed. He still wasn't completely convinced. And he wouldn't be, until it was guaranteed that the prophecy was fulfilled. There wasn't any point in talking about anymore, though. Jason had learned long ago that prophecies came true in their own unexpected ways and on their own time. Without saying anything else to Leo, Jason walked off.

…

After playing hacky-sac for awhile, Halley and Reyna went below to get some water.

"That was fun," Halley said. "Reminds me of the days back at camp; when we used to have those competitions…"

"…And you always won?" Reyna said laughing.

Halley laughed too. "Yeah, well… someone had to."

Reyna nodded. Halley noticed she had a far-away look in her eyes. "Don't worry," Halley said. "We'll make it back home."

Reyna looked up at her. "I thought I was supposed to be the prophet," she said with a said smile.

Halley laughed. "You are. I'm just the optimistic glue."

"What?"

"Something me and my dad talked about," Halley explained.

"He called you glue?"

"More or less," Halley said laughing. She walked into their cabin and sat down on her bunk. "He told me to keep thinking positively, because positive thinkers are what hold the world together."

Reyna sat down on the bunk across from Halley. "So you're glue?" she asked again.

Halley laughed. "Yes Rey, I'm glue."

…

The heroes were walking through the streets of Athens. Everything was quiet, even though it was the middle of the day.

"Where are all the people?" Halley asked, looking around.

"All of the mortals have evacuated," a voice said from a dark alley behind them.

Everyone turned towards where it had come from. They couldn't see anyone.

"That voice..." Halley muttered.

"It sounds familiar," Reyna said.

The two girls exchanged glances and then turned to Jason. He had a confused look on his face. "Who are you?" he called to the shadows.

Suddenly, a small flicker of light appeared at the back of the alley. The group all reached for their weapons as it started coming towards them. A few of them actually glanced at Leo, who was staring at the light in awe.

As the light got closer, the group could see that it was a small flame, suspended in the air by someone's hand.

As the person emerged from the shadows, Halley gasped.

"Aiden," she said.

"Hey babe," Aiden replied. "Good to see ya."

Halley winced. Leo and Reyna both stepped towards her protectively. Jason and Percy both stepped in front of them, pointing their swords at Aiden.

"Guys," Halley said as she stepped between them. "Relax. I can handle this." She turned and glared at Aiden. "What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Reyna snarled at him.

"You wish, sunshine," Aiden told her with a smirk.

"Call me that one more time, and my wish will come true," Reyna said.

"No need for hostility," Aiden said. "I just came here to help you guys out. Isn't that what friends do?"

"You're not a friend," Jason said, his voice cold.

"That hurts, Jas, that really does," Aiden said, placing his hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt.

"It should," Jason replied.

Before Aiden had a chance to reply, Halley said "We don't need your help, Aiden. Even if we did, we wouldn't want it. So why don't you do us all a favor and get lost."

"Mmm, see that's where you're wrong Halley. You'll always need me; always want me. You can't resist me Halley. You've never been able to."

That's when Leo spoke up. "Look pal, I don't know who you are but..."

Aiden cut him off. "Leo Valdez isn't it?" He gave a cold laugh. "First fire user in, like, what? Three hundred years. Well here's a news flash, Leo. I've been using fire since before you were born. Don't think you can pull anything on me."

"Hey!" Halley said, jumping to Leo's defense. "Don't talk to him like that! He's five times the fire user you ever were. Leo actually cares for people, unlike you. Leo would never pull some of the stunts _you_ have."

Aiden studied them for a moment before saying "Oh I see what's going on here. You like him don't you?"

Halley's face started turning red. "I..."

"Save your breath, sweet cheeks," Aiden said, holding his hand up. Then he pointed at Leo. "You like her back, am I right?" When Leo said nothing, Aiden burst out laughing. "You want my advice Valdez? Don't waste your time. Halley's nothing but a dirty little..."

"Aiden!" Jason interrupted. "That's enough! Halley was right when she told you to get lost. So why don't you do that?"

"Unless you feel like having about twelve arrows sticking out of your body," Reyna suggested. "I can place them in _all sorts_ of uncomfortable places. And don't think I won't do it, because I will... without a second's hesitation."

Aiden held his hands up in defense. "Fine. I'll go," he said. "But you should know that without me... you guys don't stand a chance." With that he turned and walked into the alley, disappearing into the shadows.

"That son of a harpy!" Reyna exclaimed.

"Jackal headed harpy," Jason muttered.

"Next time he shows himself... ohh he is _so_ dead!" Reyna said. She continued to rant but Leo tuned her out.

"You okay?" he asked Halley.

She nodded. "I can't believe that he's actually here... in Greece... alive. I just hope this isn't a sign of how bad things will get here." She walked over and sat on a wooden street bench, placing her head in her hands.

"How do you know him?" Leo asked as he walked over and sat down beside her. He immediately regretted asking when Halley looked up at him with a pained look on her face.

"We dated last year," she explained. "I broke up with him after the Titan War because... well I'm not quite sure why."

"Because he's a..." Reyna started.

"Reyna," Halley interrupted. "Please."

"It's not like you're not thinking the same thing I am," Reyna muttered, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly.

"Did he do something to you?" Leo asked Halley protectively.

"Not really," Halley said. "It's just that the war changed everyone... some more than others."

"Aiden got careless after the war," Jason clarified. "He started pulling really dangerous stunts with his powers. One of them almost killed Reyna and Halley."

"And him," Reyna said. "He almost died from using too much of his power. And even after that he expected me to heal him! He's lucky I didn't _kill_ him."

"That's when I broke up with him," Halley said. "I didn't want to be close to Aiden with him being out of control. It was too dangerous."

"He ran away about a week after that," Jason said. "We heard later that he had been killed."

"I was glad," Reyna said. "Good riddance, you jackal headed son of a harpy! Halley can do _way_ better!" she shouted in the direction Aiden had disappeared in.

She turned back to the group, and without meaning to, Reyna's gaze landed on Leo. When she realized what had happened she quickly shifted, saying "Uh sorry, I wasn't... um... hey Annabeth! Let's go, uh, scout the area."

Annabeth stifled a laugh and walked off with Reyna.

"I think I'll go with them," Piper said, running off after them. "Hey guys! Wait for me!"

Jason and Percy exchanged glances then started walking in the opposite direction.

"Whoa, wait," Leo said. "Where are you guys going?"

"This way," Percy said, pointing in the direction they were headed.

"Why?" Halley asked.

"To scout the area," Jason said. "See you later." He and Percy took off running.

"I can't believe them," Halley said. "Scouting is _my_ job!"

Leo laughed. "Glad you take your work seriously," he said.

Halley smiled at him. "It's true. I do take my job very seriously. But so do you. I mean how else would you have been able to build such a magnificent boat like the _Argo II_?"

"I wasn't the only one who worked on it," Leo argued, sitting down next to her.

"Obviously," Halley laughed. "But still, you've done a great job this entire quest." she paused and studied Leo. Then she quietly said "Was Aiden right? About you..."

"Liking you?" Leo said, trying hard not to blush. "Well, uh, kinda, I guess." He looked up at Halley. "What about you?"

Halley grinned and held up her hand, putting her fingers in the "little bit" position. "Guess I have a habit of falling for fire," she said.

"Maybe so," Leo said.

There was an awkward pause.

"Um Leo," Halley said.

He looked up at her. "What?"

"It's nothing much, it's just that…" Halley frowned in concentration. "Well, after we talked about Tía Callida earlier, I remembered something. We had met before…"

"I remember that," Leo said. "You were telling Tía about how you had won the obstacle course race, right?"

"Yeah. She had taken you to the park, and when I saw her, I wanted to tell her, because she was always telling me how a _heroine__p__aulo_ – that's Latin for little heroine - like me should always be the fastest and best at obstacle courses. She said that most children just play on those for fun, but that heroes must take it seriously, and always fight through it with all their strength," Halley looked at Leo. "When I saw you with her, I felt… some weird connection to you. Later, when I found out I was a demigod, I asked Tía about you; if you were a demigod too."

"What did she say?" Leo asked. He was really curious to hear this. He figured that as far as they knew, he and Halley were the first to Roman and Greek half-bloods to meet in years, besides Jason and Thalia, which was a different case.

"She laughed at me," Halley said. "But it wasn't one of those _you're so stupid _laughs. It was one of those _I know something you don't_ laughs. Tía told me that I couldn't know, but that perhaps one day I would meet you and figure it out."

"She knew we would meet one day," Leo said. "She knew we would be on this quest together… and maybe even that we would…"

"Queen Juno knows what she's doing," Halley agreed.

She shifted and her hand brushed against Leo's. They both looked up at each other and their eyes met.

"Oh," Halley said, pulling her hand away. "Uh, sorry."

Leo smiled and took her hand back. "Don't be," he said with a grin. Both of their hands were callused and worn. Leo's was from working in the forge and Halley's from fighting all the time.

"The others planned this," Halley said. "They must've known."

"It was probably all the Beauty Queen's doing," Leo said with a laugh. "Isn't that what she's supposed to do?"

"Normally, but I wouldn't think she would do it while we're in the middle of a war."

The two of them grinned at each other. Halley laughed.

"What?" Leo asked. "Do I have something in my teeth? Or is it my breath, because I can get breath mints out of my tool belt."

"It's not that," Halley said, "though the mints out of the tool belt is pretty cool. It's just that, well, when I agreed to the quest, I never thought that… that well… I underestimated the meaning of it. I mean, yeah it's really important that we beat the Giants and save the world and all that, but what if that's not really the main reason?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if the main purpose of this quest wasn't to fight the Giants? What if it was all about making sure the Romans and Greeks could work together?"

"Yeah, but you can't forget the Giants," Leo pointed out. "If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have had to have been combined."

"True," Halley said, frowning. "But seriously Leo. Look at how we've all gotten closer, just because of this stupid quest!" She stood up and walked to the middle of the street. "Tía knew about both of our destinies before we even knew we were demigods. We know that, because of the way she treated us. She must have known that we would meet some day, but yet she still kept us separate. With any normal babysitters and kids being babysat they probably would've babysat them together, but Tía never did that with us."

Leo looked at her confused. "You're making my head hurt. We all know that this quest was a result of combining the two groups of half-bloods. That's what Jason and Percy's job was."

"I know that!" Halley said. "But still. You know that all the other half-bloods will be looking at our group and saying 'Oh, hey, if they can do it, so can we'." Halley looked at Leo and her eyes got wide. She pointed a finger above Leo's head.

"What are you pointing at?" Leo asked turning around. He didn't see what Halley had pointing at, because as soon as he turned around, something hit him on the head, and everything went black.

**Halley**

"Aiden!" Halley cried, rushing to Leo's side.

She hated herself for not being able to warn Leo, but she knew Aiden well enough that if she had said anything, Leo would've been hurt even worse.

Before she could reach Leo's side, though, Aiden grabbed a hold of Halley's arm. "Let me go, you jackal!" Halley yelled.

Aiden laughed. "No can do, sweet cheeks." He lit his hand with a white hot flame. Pain flared up Halley's arm. It was too intense for Halley to stand, and she passed out.

**Yeah, so maybe the endings kind of dark with Halley and Leo being knocked unconscious, but I have my reasons :-) mwhahaha**

**Review ya'll!**


	7. Chapter 7

**So I read over my last chapter and I realized that the way I had written it I had Halley and Reyna being 17, which isn't what I want. I did go back and change it, if you guys want to re-read it. You don't have to, though.**

**Oh and sorry this is so late. I got really behind in my schoolwork. So yeah, that's why. Anyway, here's chapter 6. Enjoy =)**

Chapter 6: Know Your Enemies

"_LET ME GO, YOU JACKAL!"_

Reyna stopped in her tracks and looked back to the direction they had come from. "Guys," she said to Annabeth and Piper. "Did you hear that? It sounded like Halley."

Annabeth gave Reyna a confused look. "I didn't really hear her."

"Me either," Piper said.

Reyna shook her head. "We need to go back. I have this feeling… Halley and Leo are in trouble."

Annabeth and Piper looked at each other. "You really think so?" Piper asked.

Reyna nodded.

"Reyna, you're the fastest out of us. You run and get Jason and Percy," Annabeth said. "Piper and I'll go to help the others."

Reyna didn't want to say yes. She knew what would happen if they went with Annabeth's plan. But she also knew what_ had_ to happen. Without wanting to, she found herself saying "Okay," and running off to find Percy and Jason.

Piper looked at Annabeth. "Do you think Reyna's right?"

"She's a seer," Annabeth said with a sigh. "We have to at least check it out."

Piper frowned. She really didn't like where this was going.

…

Annabeth and Piper reached Leo in what seemed like no time at all, but when they got there, things weren't looking too good. Leo was lying unconscious on the ground and Halley was nowhere to be seen.

"Leo!" Piper called out. She and Annabeth knelt down beside him. "It looks like he has a freaking melon implanted in his forehead."

"Ugh," Leo moaned. "What hit me?" He sat up, rubbing his head.

"Something big," Annabeth stated.

Leo gave her annoyed look. "No duh," he mumbled. Suddenly, Leo got an alarmed look in his eyes. "Halley! Where… Where's Halley?"

"We don't know, Leo," Piper said quietly. "She was gone before we got here."

Leo jumped up and started walking around frantically. "She was here. We… we were talking about the quest when," he looked up at Piper and Annabeth, "When Aiden came up behind me. Halley saw him, and she tried to warn me, but she couldn't. That's when Aiden hit me and everything went black."

"Aiden was behind this?" Piper asked.

Leo nodded, rubbing his head again. "I'm pretty sure."

"Aiden must have captured Halley," Annabeth said.

"We've to go find her!" Leo exclaimed. He ran up and down the street looking around. "Halley! HALLEY!"

"Leo! Calm down!" Piper yelled at him.

"You want me to calm down?" Leo asked. "That isn't happening Beauty Queen. I just lost the one girl that has ever admitted to actually liking me. I'm not letting her go."

"Leo," Annabeth said, touching his arm. "We'll find her. Relax."

Leo took a deep breath and sighed. "Sorry guys."

Annabeth looked around. "We need a better vantage point…"

That's when she saw it. Perched on its hill like a shining pearl. "The Parthenon," Annabeth breathed. Without even thinking, she started running towards it.

"Annabeth?" Leo asked. "Annabeth! Where are you going?"

"She's going to the Parthenon," Piper said. "It's the temple to her mom. Hopefully she thinks we'll have a better view of the city from up there, and Annabeth's not just going up there to see it."

…

"Percy! Jason! Wait!"

Percy and Jason turned to see Reyna sprinting towards them.

"Reyna?" Jason asked. "What are you doing?"

"Halley and Leo are in trouble," Reyna said, trying to catch her breath.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked. Both he and Jason were reaching for their weapons.

Reyna mentally smacked herself in the head. Why did she agree to tell Percy and Jason? They should have sent Piper, the charm speaker. She was the only one that could really keep them from running off and doing something stupid. _Not_ that Percy or Jason either one would do something like that.

"I mean something bad has happened and they need help…" The two boys started to take of running, but Reyna held out her arms to block their path, a knife in each of her hands. "But you two don't need to do anything hasty."

"Our friends are in trouble, Reyna," Jason stated.

"I know that, Air Head, but it won't help them if you guys do something stupid, which you _have_ been known to do."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Percy asked. "We can't just sit here and do nothing."

"Obviously," Reyna said. She thought for a second. "We need to make our way to the Parthenon."

"Why?" they both asked.

Reyna rubbed her temples. She had so many bad feelings right now; she didn't know what to do. "It's just where I think we need to go. I can't really explain it," Reyna said. "Percy, call Blackjack."

Percy whistled and Blackjack flew down to the group. Reyna and Percy jumped on his back.

"Wait a second," Jason said. "We didn't leave Halley and Leo at the Parthenon. And I doubt that they went up there, so why are we going up there?"

Reyna glared at him. "Jason, I've already said that I can't explain it, I just know that that's where we need to go."

Jason frowned. He didn't know what Reyna was thinking, and he didn't really want to. He did know that his friends were in trouble, and since Reyna was the only one who really seemed to know what was going on, Jason had no choice but to follow her lead and hope she was getting the right leads.

**...**

"Annabeth!"

"Wait!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and turned around to face Leo and Piper. "What?" she asked.

"What about Halley?" Leo asked. "We have to find her. And I doubt Aiden would've brought her here." He gestured to the Parthenon.

Annabeth thought for a minute. Finally she said "I know Leo, but I'm this close. This might be the only chance I have to see the Parthenon. Why don't you guys scan the city? I'll only be a few minutes." She turned around and walked up the final few steps and into the temple.

"FIVE MINUTES!" Leo yelled at her. "YOU'VE GOT FIVE MINUTES. THEN WE'RE GOING!" He lowered his voice so only Piper could hear. "Even if we have to drag her out kicking and screaming."

Piper smiled. "Don't worry. She'll come back soon."

"She better," Leo muttered. He reached into his tool belt and pulled out two pairs of binoculars. Handing one to Piper he said "Might as well do something productive."

The two of them went over to edge. After a few minutes Leo put his binoculars down in frustration.

"This is useless!" he exclaimed. "We aren't going to find Halley like this."

Piper sighed. "You're right." Checking her watch she added "We should go get Annabeth and head off."

Leo agreed and started up to the Parthenon. They walked in the door but didn't see Annabeth anywhere.

"Annabeth?" Piper asked.

"Annabeth?" Leo echoed a little louder.

"Leo," Piper whispered, setting a hand on the hilt of her dagger, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Suddenly, hands grabbed the two half-bloods from behind.

"LET US GO!" Piper screamed.

Dark laughter filled the chamber. "They can't hear you Piper," a female voice said. "They're dead."

Piper and Leo turned to see their attackers. Both of them stifled screams. Standing behind them were indescribable creatures. They looked like they had just walked out of a grave… one they had been in for a long, _long_ time.

"EWW!" Piper exclaimed.

The person hidden in the dark laughed. It was cold, and definitely female. "What's wrong, daughter of Aphrodite? Have a problem with _zombies_?"

"Hey, I know that voice," Leo muttered to Piper. He frowned for a second then his eyes widened. "No," he said in disbelief. "It can't…"

"Glad you figured it out, Leo," the voice said. Suddenly, its owner emerged out of the shadows. Piper gasped.

"Medea!"

Medea laughed. "Hello you two. It's so good to see you, but where is your friend? That _Jason_ guy?" She said his name like it left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Not here," Leo said.

"Hmm, well I suppose we'll just have to find him later," Medea said.

Piper didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean _we'll _have to find him? Who else is with you?"

"Why us of course, you silly girl."

"Oh no," Piper muttered. "Not him too."

Leo cursed. "This _would_ happen to us."

Midas walked out of the shadows, tailed by Lit. Midas was wearing a solid gold crown (one of those fancy ones that have a solid top) to hide his donkey ears. Everything else he was wearing was gold also, and fortunately this time he wasn't wearing the bath robe. Lit was wearing pretty much the same thing he had the first time the last time Leo and Piper had ran into the two of them, including the sword.

"Anyway," Medea said, sounding bored and annoyed, "We were sent here to capture whoever showed up. We figured _one_ of you pathetic heroes would come, and it just so turned out that it was you three." Medea smirked when she finished talking.

"Three?" Piper asked.

"Annabeth must still be here," Leo whispered to her.

Suddenly, there was a clatter in the shadows behind their three captors. They all turned.

"You should probably go see what that was," Leo said.

"I bet it was the third person, whoever that is," Piper added.

The captors all exchanged suspicious glances then disappeared back into the shadows.

"Now what?" Piper asked.

Leo thought for a second. "Maybe I could burn through my ropes." He strained against them. "Those zombies sure know how to tie a tight knot."

"Where they go anyway?" Piper asked, just then realizing the zombies were gone.

"Gone," a familiar voice said from behind the two. "They tied you guys up and the disappeared."

Piper and Leo turned around but didn't see anyone. "Annabeth?" Leo asked. "That's you, isn't it?"

The air shimmered and Annabeth appeared, cap in hand. "No duh, Sherlock," she said. "I'm going to try and get you guys out of here. Those ropes aren't gonna burn easily, Leo, but if you want to try while I help Piper, go ahead."

Leo nodded. "Ok, just stand back a bit."

The two girls shifted so they wouldn't be in the way of the fire. Annabeth pulled her knife out and started cutting Piper's ropes while Leo set his hands aflame and started burning the ropes. They were so busy trying to escape they didn't realize that Medea, Midas, and Lit had reentered. That is, until Leo looked up momentarily and found Lit's sword pointed right at his throat.

"Uh, guys?" Leo said.

"What Leo?" Annabeth said. She and Piper both looked up at him. Their eyes grew wide when they saw the sword.

"Nice try," Lit said. "But we're smarter than you think we are."

"Really?" Leo asked in mock surprise. "I never would have guessed it."

Lit snarled. "You're in the wrong place to be talking like that."

"Oh, right. The whole 'sword-at-my-throat' thing. Got it."

Medea turned and whistled. _Venti_ blew into the room. One materialized and Leo and Piper got to see another old friend of theirs.

"Dylan?" Piper said. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Miss me?" Dylan said in his thick Texan accent.

"Nope," Leo said. "I missed making fun of you, but not you."

"Dylan, take these demigods away," Medea said. "I'm sure you know where."

"Of course I do," Dylan said. "I ain't dumb, unlike these guys." He jutted a thumb the other three.

Then Dylan, along with his other _venti_ pals, flew around behind them and picked them up. They fought, but it was no use. The _venti_ took Annabeth, Piper, and Leo out of the Parthenon, and out into the late afternoon sky.

**Percy**

"Hurry, Blackjack!" Percy called.

_I'm tryin' boss,_ Blackjack responded, _but these winds are nasty. I'm getting blown all over the place._

Percy looked straight ahead. Blackjack was right. Ever since they had taken off, they had been battling strong headwinds.

"Jason!" Percy called out, "Do you think you can do something about these winds?"

Jason paused and floated in the air momentarily. Shaking his head he called back "I doubt it. These winds are caused by _venti_. I can see their trail leading to the Parthenon."

"We're almost there, Percy," Reyna said. "I can see it there." She pointed down below them.

Percy looked where she was pointing. Sure enough, there was the Parthenon. "Down Blackjack!" Percy said.

_Sure thing, boss_, Blackjack said, tucking his wings. _But it doesn't smell too great down there._

Percy looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked.

_Well, I can't smell as great as some things, but I do smell pretty good. And that down there doesn't smell like a place we want to go._

"What's he saying?" Reyna asked.

"He doesn't like the smell," Percy answered.

Reyna sighed. "We can't help that, Blackjack," she told the pegasus. "We have to find the others."

_Tell Blondie that I know that,_ Blackjack said with a snort.

Percy smirked and relayed the message.

"Good to know, Blackjack," Reyna said. "But don't worry. All you have to do is drop us off, and then you can leave."

_Good,_ Blackjack muttered. _It smells like dead people, gold, and sunscreen._

"Dead people, gold, sunscreen?" Percy asked.

"That's a weird combination," Reyna said. "And completely random."

"That's what Blackjack said it smelled like," Percy said as they landed in front of the Parthenon.

Reyna jumped off and drew her bow. "Okay, the dead people I can understand, but gold and sunscreen? What's scary about that?"

"No time to figure that out," Percy said. He stood next to Reyna, Riptide in hand.

Jason landed next to them and pulled out his sword. "Let's go guys," he said.

As Jason walked up the stairs to the doorway, Reyna and Percy exchanged glances, shrugged, and followed him.

They walked through the door just in time to see a group of _venti_ fly through the broken ceiling with Piper, Annabeth, and Leo. The three were fighting, but Reyna, Percy, and Jason could tell that it wasn't doing any damage.

"No!" Percy yelled. "Annabeth!"

"Save your breath, hero," Midas said from across the room. "You cannot save your friends."

"Watch me," Percy said. Even though he didn't know who he was attacking, he knew that they had something to do with Annabeth's capture.

"Percy!" Jason yelled. "Watch out!"

"This isn't your fight," Midas said. "We'll be seeing you at another time."

Just as Percy reached them, the three disappear into smoke. Percy's sword swung through the empty air.

"No!" he yelled again. He turned to Reyna and Jason. "We have to find them."

"We don't know where they are," Jason pointed out.

"We do," Reyna said.

"We do?" Percy asked.

Reyna nodded.

"They'll take them to Olympus," Jason stated. Reyna nodded again.

"We should follow them," Percy suggested. He ran out the door before Reyna and Jason could argue.

"This is a bad idea," Reyna muttered.

"Too bad we don't have any other choice," Jason muttered.

Reyna sighed. "Unfortunately." She paused to think for a second, and then said "Percy and me will be on Blackjack, and you can fly there yourself. Just try to stick with us. I don't want to have to come find you too."

Jason gave a half smirk. "How about this: If we get separated, you and Percy go on and fine the others. Don't worry about trying to find me, I'll be okay."

"Okay," Reyna said nodding.

"Guys!" Percy called from the doorway. "Let's go!"

…

They flew through the air. Jason was having no problem keeping up with Blackjack. That is, until a huge wind blew through and Blackjack and Jason were both flown off course.

"JASON!" Reyna screamed as she watched Jason lose control and spiral towards the ground.

"Stop Blackjack!" Percy yelled.

"What are you doing Percy?" Reyna cried. "We have to find the others!"

"Are you crazy? We can't leave Jason!"

"Jason wants us to find the others," Reyna explained. "He told me that he'll be okay."

Percy didn't believe that, but he knew better than to argue with Reyna. "Let's go Blackjack."

…

Jason landed in a rooftop garden somewhere in the middle of Athens. He hit his head on a patio chair and was knocked unconscious.

His dream was a series of clips from his life. The first one was from where he, Reyna, and Dakota had first met Halley.

_Jason, Reyna, and Dakota followed Lupa to the Wolf House. Lupa hadn't been very clear on why they were going there, so the three kids were pretty clueless about what was going on._

"_Caleb told me there was a new kid. A real tough one too," Dakota whispered to them._

"_How old is she?" Reyna asked. Being a six-year old girl, she naturally assumed the new camper was a girl._

_Dakota shook his head. "Nope. Caleb didn't tell me."_

"_What makes you think it's a girl?" Jason asked._

"_I just know," Reyna said, putting her hands on her hips and sticking her tongue out at Jason._

"_Children," Lupa said. She was standing at the front door of the Wolf House. "Behave. I brought you here to meet our newest camper, Halley Cabrio. She'll be joining us at camp soon, but I wanted her to meet a few of the campers before she does."_

"_Told you it's a girl," Reyna muttered._

_Lupa ignored her and turned her head to the door. "Halley! _Venio extra!_"_

_The three kids looked towards the door. A moment later, a young girl around the same age of the other three appeared. She had wavy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Blue eyes shone out under the Astros baseball cap she was wearing._

"_Hey!" she said in a cheerful voice. She pulled the cap off so the others could see her face better. "I'm Halley!"_

_Dakota looked at her quizzically. "You look like me!" he exclaimed._

"_That's correct, Dakota," Lupa said. "Halley is a daughter of Mercury, which makes her your sister."_

"_Yeah!" Halley said excitedly. You could hear her Texan accent. Jason had forgotten that Halley had once talked like that. After ten years of living in California, she had mostly lost it. There were those few times where she had returned to camp after spending a few weeks in Texas that she would speak with her accent. "Check this out!" She glanced down at her shoes. "_Volo!_" The word sounded strange when she said it._

_Jason, Reyna, and Dakota gasped as Halley's shoes grew wings, and Halley was raised into the air._

The scene changed suddenly. Jason saw clips of his life growing up at camp. Most were pictures of him, Reyna, Dakota, and Halley. The last one he saw before the dream changed again was the picture in Halley's locket; the picture of the four of them in front of the Wolf House. That picture had been taken on Halley and Reyna's fifteenth birthday party. That was the May before the Titan War really got started. It had been one of the last happy times the four of them had share, since about a month later, they started having trouble with monsters attacking the borders of camp.

After that picture faded, Jason saw himself on a bus; the same bus he had been on the morning that he had met Piper and Leo. Jason's dream replayed the events of that entire morning, everything from the stupid museum tour to the _venti_ and ending with Jason's first encounter with Annabeth.

Once again, the scene changed and they were on the _Argo II_. Jason saw the entire voyage. All the fights, everything. Even the part where Leo had fallen on him. He saw the fight with the Giants up to the point where they had been separated in Athens.

Then Jason was standing on a mountain top. He knew which one, too. Mt. Olympus. It was shrouded by fog. Jason couldn't see more than ten feet in front of him.

"Well if it isn't the son of the great god Jupiter," a booming voice said. Jason couldn't pin where it was coming from, but he knew who it was.

"Porphyrion!" Jason called out to the fog.

"Give up little hero. You and your friends will never win this war."

"That's what you think," Jason said.

"Where are your friends?" Porphyrion asked. He laughed when Jason didn't respond. "You don't know. And even if you did, you couldn't help them. Your fight is pointless. In a few short days, you and your friend will be dead. Olympus will fall by my hand and the Great Mother shall rise."

As if to prove Porphyrion's point, images of the other six appeared. Reyna, standing with her bow drawn, seeming to point right at Jason. Halley was standing also, her left hand on the hilt of her sword, her right hand on her right hip. The look on her face was one that could kill almost anyone who looked at her. Leo was squatted down in a catcher's position, one of his hands extended and lit aflame. He was starring at the flame like he wasn't quite sure what to think about it. Piper's image had her holding out her dagger. Her face was mostly emotionless, and Jason could see her reflection in Katoptris, and it appeared like she was looking at him. Annabeth was standing in a fighting position, her knife clenched tightly in her hand. Then lastly there was Percy. He was standing, his hands clenched into fists. He didn't have his sword out or any weapons for that matter. He had a determined look on his face, but it didn't show any other emotion. Percy didn't appear to be angry, sad, happy… nothing.

"You see your friends as they were, Jason," Porphyrion said. "Take a good long look, because this shall be the last time you see your friends like this. Once I'm done with them, they will be broken beyond repair and no one shall recognize them."

Jason glared. He knew Porphyrion could see him, even if Jason couldn't see the Giant. "I will find my friends," he stated strongly. "I will find them, and I will before you can hurt them."

Porphyrion laughed. It was a deep rumbling laugh that shook the mountain. Jason struggled to stay on his feet. "You can try, puny hero, but you shall not succeed."

The dream ended and Jason jolted awake.

**Okay, so that's chapter 6. Hope you guys like it. The stories really starting to heat up, finally! And lucky for you guys, I have the majority of my next chapters already typed up… for the most part. Just have to add a bit more. In any case, chapter 7 will hopefully be up soon.**

**Review! =)**


	8. Chapter 8

**So I have officially decided that Rick Riordan is absoulutely hilarious and try as I might, I will never be able to create humor like his in my stories. I realized this while reading **_**The Throne of Fire**_**, his new Kane Chronicles book. Great book by the way. For those of you who don't read the Kane Chronicles, I suggest you do. Both books are great, and the characters are very funny… though I still miss Percy's humor. There's no competing with him. I'm counting down the days till October (and not just because that's the month my birthday's in =]).**

**Also, to the reviewer Son of Athena: If you want to go ahead and do that, it would be awesome, though it doesn't matter to me one way or the other. Maybe you could just ask him to read my stories =) Also, my friend Kayla (my co-author) would appreciate being recognized too =) you can reach me at the email on my profile or private message me if you get more details. **

**Anyway, here's chapter seven. Enjoy =)**

Chapter 7: Deserves to Know

Halley woke up in a dark shed. She had no idea where she was, and it took a few minutes for her to remember what had happened.

"Oh gosh," Halley said. "Leo!"

She jumped up frantically but was pulled back down almost immediately by chains on her arms and legs. Halley looked at the chains and realized they were long enough for her to stand up, but she wouldn't be able to do much after that. She stood up and was shocked when she felt the cold ground under her feet.

"That jackal stole my shoes," Halley cursed. That's when she realized that her bag and sword were also missing. She cursed again. "Great. Just great."

Halley groaned and sat back down, covering her face with her hands. The door opened and Halley looked up to see Aiden walk into the room. Anger flooded Halley's emotions. She got to her feet struggled against the chains, trying to reach Aiden so she could strangle him.

"Calm down, babe," Aiden said smoothly. "I just came in to check on you."

Halley stopped struggling and crossed her arms. "Really?" she said with mock concern. "If you care that much, why don't you take these freaking chains off me!"

"Chill Hals," Aiden said. "You're overreacting."

"Don't. Call. Me. that." Halley growled.

"Why not? That's your nickname isn't it?"

"Not to you it isn't," Halley said. "There's only a few people I let call me that: Reyna, my dad, and Dakota. I would let Jason if he ever did, but he doesn't. You," she pointed at Aiden, "you don't call me Hals, or babe. If you have to call me anything, it's Halley. Got that?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Aiden responded sounding bored. "Anyway, you should probably know that this little gig here," he gestured around the room, "is temporary. You'll be moved eventually."

Halley's expression changed from anger to fear in seconds. "To where?" she asked.

"Im not sure," Aiden said with a smirk. Halley got the impression he was absolutely positive to where she was being sent. "I think it might be to Mt. Olympus."

Halley choked back a startled sound. Aiden laughed. "Yeah, we know all about Reyna's little vision. You should feel honored Halley. You're playing an extremely important roll in fulfilling that: you get to be the bait. You and some of your other friends."

"You work for Gaia," Halley stated. She had gotten over her shock fast and was now fully ticked again. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Of course I work for Gaia," Aiden said. "Why wouldn't I. The gods have no need for me, especially not since they've discovered the incredible Valdez! Besides, you should know that fighting for the gods is a waste. All they do is mess with your life, your emotions. How many times have the gods played you Halley? How many?"

"That's the life of a demigod," Halley said. "You choose to accept it or you don't."

"Well I didn't," Aiden said. "At least not your idea about it. I have my own."

Halley watched Aiden carefully, and just happened to notice the key hanging around his neck. _That has to be the key that unlocks these shackles_, Halley thought. _But how do I get it?_

Halley considered her options. Finally she figured out a plan. She hoped it would work, because if it didn't, she was pretty much dead.

Halley waited until Aiden was about to leave when she said "Aiden! Wait a second!"

He stopped at the door and turned to look at her. "Yeah?" he asked.

"I..." Halley tried not to gag as she spoke. These were not easy words to say. "I'm sorry. I was wrong... about everything. You're right about the gods. They don't care. They never have, never will. Gaea's going to win, and I don't want to be on the losing side." she was turning on the charm, the only way she knew to get through to Aiden. But luckily it was working.

"You want to join Gaea's side?" Aiden asked. Halley nodded. "Well, you're going to have to gain my trust again," he continued, slowly approaching Halley.

"Of course," Halley said. "And anyway, now that I've thought it through, I really don't know what I saw in Leo. He's nothing like you. Way too cautious."

Aiden smirked. "That's what I like to hear," he said. He had reached Halley and leaned in to kiss her.

Every part of Halley was screaming at her to kick him and make him leave. But Halley knew that if she wanted to get out of here, she was going to have to kiss Aiden back, or else she wouldn't be able to get the key.

She lend in to return the kiss, while her hand reached around to behind Aiden's neck and undid the clasp on his necklace. Halley used her other hand to catch the key and stuck it in her pocket.

They broke apart and Aiden walked back to the door. "See you later babe." he said with a wink.

"See ya," Halley said with a romantic smirk.

As soon as Aiden closed the door, Halley wasted no time unlocking the shackles. She looked around the room and happened to see her belongings lying on a shelf at the back of the room.

"Bingo," Halley whispered with a grin.

She quickly slipped on her shoes, slung her bag over her shoulder, and finally strapped on her sword. Then, cautiously, Halley crept over to the door and silently opened it. Outside, she saw Aiden talking to a dirt lady.

"Gaea," Halley whispered. She leaned so she could hear better.

"We do not need her," Gaea was saying in her sleepy, gravelly voice. "She is of no use to us. You should get rid of her now while she is restrained and cannot escape."

"But she is an amazing fighter. Surely she is worth keeping?" Aiden replied.

"That might be true, but she is the child of Mercury, and cannot be trusted," Gaea said firmly.

_Dang right I can't,_ Halley thought.

"She is not necessary to lure the others in," Gaea continued. "You must dispose of her now."

"Why?" Aiden asked. "Why do we have to get rid of her?"

Gaea seemed to sigh, which looked really weird since she was made of dirt. "If we allow her to live, then the heroes will have a better chance of winning in the final battle. You might not be aware of this, but when every hero is born, their destinies are written out and their own personal life prophecy is spoken. Halley's destiny lies within that final fight and in order for her prophecy to be fulfilled, she has to be at that fight."

"So you're going to have me kill her, just so her prophecy can't be fulfilled?"

"You are missing the point," Gaea said, sounding irritated. "There will be a final battle between the demigods and our side. They are strong, stronger than was anticipated. Your job now is to take everything you can to make sure they are not strong enough to fight that fight. One way you will do that is kill Halley Cabrio now."

Halley jumped back from the door. She knew how Aiden would try to kill her, and she couldn't let him do that. Halley looked up at the ceiling. It was wood, but didn't look very strong.

_Hope this works,_ Halley thought as she crouched down. With one explosive jump, Halley flew up at full speed, crashing through the ceiling.

Aiden heard the crash and turned around to see a smirking Halley flying above the shed.

Halley held up the key and wiggled it. "Hey Aiden!" she called down. "Next time you capture a child of Mercury, make sure you hide your key better!"

"Halley!" Aiden yelled at her. "Come back! We're not going to hurt you!"

"Bull crap! I heard you talking to Dirt Lady! I'm dead as soon as I land!"

"You're dead whether you land or not, half-blood."

Halley froze at the sound of the voice behind her. Without having to turn around, she knew who it was.

"Porphyrion?" she asked, still not turning around. "Why do I get the honor of having you show up to my prison?"

"He's going to take you to your _new_ prison," Aiden said. Halley could see the smirk on his face. "And you _should_ feel honored Halley."

"Oh I do, don't worry," Halley muttered. Then she finally turned around to face Porphyrion.

"Hello, pathetic daughter of Mercury," Porphyrion said with an almost toothless grin.

Halley raised her eyebrows. "_Pathetic_? What do you mean by that?" She gagged. "And have you ever heard of a _breath mint_? I'm detecting a lack of minty freshness on your breath."

"Argh!" Porphyrion growled as he reached out and grabbed Halley.

"Hey! Let me go!" Halley yelled, pounding her fist uselessly against the Giant's hand.

"That will not happen," Porphyrion said. "We need you with your other friends."

"Wait! My friends?" Halley glared at him. "Which friends?" she snarled.

"I think you know which ones," Aiden called up to her.

Halley glanced at him, then back at Porphyrion. "Then why don't you go ahead and take me there?" she demanded.

Porphyrion smirked. "You speak boldly for someone in your situation. All I need to do is squeeze the slightest bit and every bone in your body will break."

"But then I wouldn't do you any good, would I?" Halley asked.

When no one answered, Halley spoke again. "Gaia wanted Aiden to kill me. Why won't you?" she asked Porphyrion.

"That was a test to see if Aiden was really worth having on our side," Gaia explained. "You aren't important enough to us that we have to leave you alive. We do have the option of killing you."

Halley thought for a second. Dead, she would be no use to the others, where she would be alive, even if she was behind bars. "Then go ahead and kill me," Halley said, trying hard to keep her fear hidden. "If I can't help you, go ahead! But before you do, I should warn you that the others won't like it if you do kill me. I'm not much to them, but I am a good fighter. Jason and Reyna would definitely get their revenge on you guys."

Gaia frowned. "Take her, Porphyrion. I'm tired of listening to that mouth. Take her and put her with the others. Don't kill her… yet."

**Reyna**

Percy and Reyna kept flying till they saw Mt. Olympus. It was a pretty long trip, longer than they had expected.

"Percy," Reyna said. She thought for a second. How could she ask him what was on her mind?

"Yeah?" Percy asked.

"Well… I was just wondering…" Reyna sighed. "Do you think you're gonna make it out of this alive?"

Percy was quiet for a few minutes. The only sound was Blackjack's wings, and the wind blowing around them.

"Honestly, Reyna," Percy finally said. "I don't think I will. I think the rest of you will, but not me."

Reyna looked at him in surprise. He couldn't see her, since he was facing straight ahead, and was sitting in front of her. "You really don't?" Reyna asked.

Percy shook his head. "I just have this feeling that I'm not coming out of this war. At least, if I do, my life will be completely different. All I can guess is that either I'm gonna die, or someone else will die and I won't be able to live like that. That I won't be able to live without that person in my life."

Reyna looked out across the sky. She knew how Percy felt.

"So what about you?" Percy asked.

"Me?"

"What does the great seer believe her fate is?" Percy asked, mimicking the way the ancients would have asked that question.

Reyna sighed. "I don't know. I've been getting mixed signals the entire trip. I don't know what to believe."

Percy shrugged. "Guess that makes sense."

They stayed quiet for a moment. Finally, Reyna couldn't take it anymore. She had to tell Percy what she knew.

"Percy, you should know…"

Reyna didn't get to finish her sentence, because right at that moment, an entire swarm of _venti_ blew past them. Percy was knocked off of Blackjack.

"No," Reyna whispered. She tried to steer Blackjack down to catch Percy, but _venti_ got in their way. "PERCY!" Reyna screamed. "No!"

The _venti_ flew away, allowing Reyna to watch helplessly as Percy fell out of the sky.

**Annabeth**

"Well isn't this fun," Leo said sarcastically from his spot on the cage floor.

"Oh yeah," Piper muttered. "Havin' a blast."

Annabeth sighed and looked out through the bars. They had been in here for a little less than two hours, and those two were already driving her crazy. All Annabeth could do was keep to herself, and try and think of a way out of here. She was trying desperately to block the memory of Percy running in just as the _venti_ took her, Piper, and Leo away. Even though they had been out of his sight at that point, Annabeth had seen that look of helplessness and frustration when he had tried to attack Midas but hadn't been able to do any damage.

"Annabeth?" Piper asked, shaking Annabeth out of her daze.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, startling a bit.

"Do you have an idea of how to get out of here?"

Annabeth hung her head. "Not a clue," she said mournfully.

**Halley**

"Hey can we do this _every_ day?" Halley asked Porphyrion.

After her failed escape attempt, Halley was now being taken to her "new prison", as Aiden had put it, by Porphyrion. He walked and held her in his hand tightly. Not that Halley blamed him for that. She had been known to literally slip through the fingers of her enemies.

"A smart mouth is not a wise mouth," Porphyrion stated.

"Is that Plato?" Halley asked. "Or maybe one of those other really smart dead Greek dudes. 'Cuz I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not Greek. I'm Roman."

Halley wished she could see the expression on Porphyrion's face when she said that. She figured it was probably something along the lines of _No Freakin' Duh._ But, unfortunately, she couldn't turn around. Not that she wanted to. She had seen that dude's face up close once already, and that was _not_ an experience she wanted to repeat.

"You're an ignorant child," Porphyrion grumbled. "I'm surprised at how you're capture has caused such an uproar."

"It's because I'm such a great person," Halley said as brightly as she could.

This was an old trick of hers. Jason and Reyna (and pretty much everyone else she knew) had always said she was crazy, but this little trick had always worked in for her, so Halley stuck with it. Whenever she was captured (which happened more than you would think) or got in a sticky situation (Halley's average was about five a month) she would use her incredible gifts of talking to get out of it… or at least delay torture until someone could come save her butt. Halley wasn't a charm-speaker, but she did have a knack for annoying the heck out of enemies with smart-elec comments and just plan out rambling. And right now, her target was Porphyrion. Halley didn't know how much she could affect the king of the Giants, but she figured it was worth a shot.

Porphyrion didn't respond to her last comment.

"So where are you taking me anyway?" Halley asked. _Maybe I can get him to spill some info,_ she thought.

"Don't you know?" Porphyrion asked her back.

Halley bit her lip. She did know where: Mt. Olympus. But she didn't want to believe it. _Next question_, she thought.

"So… which of my friends will be there?" Halley asked this question as if she was a six year old asking which friends were at her birthday party.

"You will find the answer to that question when we arrive at our destination," Porphyrion said.

"Gee, thanks," Halley said, sighing. "Can't you be helpful about _anything_?"

That seemed to hit a sore spot for Porphyrion. He raised Halley so she was looking right in his face.

"Silence, you pathetic daughter of Mercury!" he ordered. "For the rest of the trip, you _will_ be silent, or else I _will_ kill you."

Halley clamped her mouth shut. She had no doubt that Porphyrion was telling the truth. He would kill her, without hesitation. But wait… hadn't they said they needed her alive?

"Why do I not believe you?" she asked. "Oh wait, I know! You guys need me alive."

Porphyrion's grip tightened around her.

"Okay, okay!" she said, gasping for air. "I'll shut up!"

The grip loosened some, but Halley still had some problems getting air.

"Can. You. Please. Loosen. Up. Your. Grip." Halley said, taking in as much air as she could.

"We shall be there shortly," Porphyrion said. "But you might want to hold on."

Before Halley could respond (not that she would if she could) the world seemed to start spinning. She blacked out momentarily, and woke back up in a completely different place. When the spinning started, they had been on the outskirts of Athens. Now they were on top of a mountain. It was cold and foggy. Halley couldn't really see anything.

"Welcome to your prison," Porphyrion said.

"What prison?" Halley asked tiredly. The random spinning trip had majorly drained her.

Suddenly she saw it. A stone cage had risen up out of the ground. As far as she could tell, no one else was in the cage.

"I thought you said my friends were here?" Halley asked. Without warning, Porphyrion dumped her into the cage, which was apparently open on top. Once she was inside, bars appeared on the top.

"Maybe they are, maybe they aren't," Porphyrion said turning around to leave.

"Hey!" Halley cried out. "Where are you going?" She pulled out her sword, which hadn't been confiscated for some weird reason.

Porphyrion didn't listen. He walked off into the fog and disappeared.

"Stupid Giant," Halley muttered.

"Halley? Is that you?"

Halley spun around and faced the direction the voice had come from. "Who's there?" she asked.

"It's me," a figure walked out of the fog. Three figures actually. "Leo."

"Leo?" Halley ran to him. They hugged. For almost the first time since they had arrived in Greece, Halley felt almost safe. They stood like that for a few minutes, until Halley realized that Annabeth and Piper were standing behind Leo.

"Oh," Halley said, backing away from Leo. He turned and his face grew red.

"Uh…" he said.

Piper and Annabeth laughed. "You think I care?" Piper asked. "I'm the daughter of the goddess of _love_, after all."

"Yeah, and I have a boyfriend," Annabeth said trying to sound half-way cheerful, though Halley could tell by the look on her face that that topic was currently worrying the daughter of Athena. "I'm used to it."

Halley didn't know whose face was redder: hers or Leo's.

"Aw look Annabeth," Piper said in a way too perky voice, "We made them blush."

Annabeth smirked. "Come on, Piper," she said. "Let's give them some space." The two girls walked off laughing.

When they faded with the fog, Halley turned back to Leo.

"Welcome to prison," he said, spreading his arms out wide, like this place was a magnificent palace and not an earthen cage on a fog covered mountain.

_Fog covered mountain..._ Halley thought. _Oh, crap!_

"Leo, is this mountain Mt. Olympus?"

Leo frowned. "I think so," he said. Nodding, he added "Yup, pretty sure it is."

"Olympus," Halley said, "Like, _the _Olympus?"

Leo nodded again.

Halley groaned and sunk down to the ground, leaning her back against the bars. "Great," she muttered. "_Just great_."

"Hey," Leo said, sitting down next to her. "What's wrong?"

Halley looked at him. "Besides the fact that we're locked in a cage on top of Mt. Olympus when we're supposed to be saving the world?"

Leo just looked at her.

With a sigh, Halley hung her head. _Might as well tell him,_ she thought. _He'll find out soon enough._ "Reyna's vision," Halley explained.

Leo's eyes grew wide. They had told him about the vision, obviously, but he, Piper, Annabeth, and Percy didn't know the whole story. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Halley looked up at him. "Reyna told me that her vision would come true on Mt. Olympus."

Leo didn't lose his surprised look, but he nodded slowly like he understood. "So that means…"

"Someone's going to die, Leo," Halley said grimly. "And it's gonna happen very soon."

"But who?" Leo asked.

Halley bit her lip. This was the part she had promised Reyna that she wouldn't tell a soul about. The part that only the two of them and Jason knew.

"When you guys described the vision to us," Leo said, "you said you didn't know who it was that was going to die. But that's not true is it?"

Halley hung her head again and stayed silent.

Leo reached over and gently lifted her head. "You know who dies, don't you?" he asked quietly, looking her in the eyes.

Halley felt like she was on the verge of tears. Taking in a shaky breath, she nodded. "Reyna made me swear not to tell," she started, "but you deserve to know."

Leo looked at her expectantly. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he whispered "It's okay, Hals. You can tell me."

Halley looked into his brown eyes. She knew she could trust Leo. He deserved to know the truth. "Okay," she said, taking another breath. She continued to look straight into his eyes as she said "Percy's going to die. And Annabeth's going to be the one to kill him."

**I'm digging trenches around my house to keep the angry mob out. You guys have been begging and begging me to tell you who the whole knife thing was about, and now you know. Please don't kill me.**

**I know my chapters are starting to get a bit darker, and I'm sorry to say that they will probably remain that way for the next few chapters. Please don't run away though! Keep reading the story! I promise that the story gets really good.**

**I'm scared to ask you guys to review, but please do. I don't know why they don't send out the new chapter alerts (do you guys get those?). So I know that some of my old readers are probably thinking I've totally ditched the story. Promise I haven't.**

**Anyway, Review =)**


	9. Chapter 9

**First off, I'm going to apologize to those of you who got repeated chapter update alerts. I don't know why, but I don't receive those for my story anymore, so I didn't realize you guys were getting repeated alerts.**

**I have nothing more to say, so here's chapter 8. Enjoy =)**

Chapter 8: Don't Ignore the Warnings

**Percy**

After getting knocked off Blackjack, Percy fell from the sky and landed with a crash near the foot of Mt. Olympus, in some small forest. If it hadn't been for his invulnerability, he would have been smashed into a Percy-pancake. Either way, the fall didn't feel too great.

"Ugh," Percy groaned, sitting up. "I've had better landings."

"Perseus," a voice said from the woods.

Percy jumped up, pulling Riptide out of his pocket. "Who's there?" he called out.

"Relax, Percy," the voice said again. A figure emerged out of the trees. At first, Percy wasn't really sure what he was seeing. The girl wasn't completely visible. Her form shimmered and almost seemed to dance. The colors of her clothes and hair were super faded. Percy didn't recognize her, though she looked very familiar.

"You're a ghost?" Percy asked.

The girl nodded. "You've probably heard that the Doors of Death are opening. Well, along with a bunch of badies, some people have actually come back that might be a lot of help to you."

"But… you're a ghost," Percy said again.

Ghost girl sighed, which was really weird since she didn't really have a solid enough form to sigh. "No duh," she stated. She looked at him. "You don't know who I am, do you?"

Percy shook his head.

Ghost girl smirked. "I'm Alley, daughter of Apollo."

Percy blinked. "Reyna's sister?"

Alley nodded. "Half-sister, but yeah."

"You're the one that spoke that prophecy… the one about this war."

Alley grimaced, but she nodded. "I wish that I had never spoken it," she muttered. "Everyone's lives would be so much easier."

"It wouldn't have made a difference," Percy said. He rubbed his neck. It was stiff from his fall. "We still would've had to come here."

"Still," Alley murmured. She looked at Percy with a concerned look.

"Why are you here?" Percy asked.

"To warn you, Percy," Alley said. "Everything's going to change. The war won't end easily. The part of my prophecy that mentions you, Jason, and Leo is going to start coming true. The prophecy isn't far from being fulfilled. The fight against Porphyrion will be long and hard."

"I figured that," Percy said.

"You also need to know that the gods won't be able to help with that fight," Alley continued.

"What?" Percy asked in alarm. "What do you mean?"

"I can't say anything else," Alley said sadly. "My time here is about up."

"About up? But…"

"I really can't stay any longer," Alley said. Percy could tell that she was telling the truth. Her ghostly form was starting to flicker. "But you needed to know that. And now I have to go. I still have one more stop before they catch me."

"Who catches you?" Percy asked.

Alley's form started to fade even more. When she spoke, her voice sounded very distant. "If something happens to you Percy, don't let Reyna heal you."

"What? Why?"

"Goodbye, Percy." Alley's form completely disappeared. She was gone.

**Reyna**

"Percy," Reyna whispered. "No. Percy. No." She covered her mouth with her hand.

"Blackjack, we need to land. I have to find him. Or at least…" she couldn't bring herself to finish.

Blackjack tucked his wings and flew down to the ground. Reyna jumped off his back.

"You can leave," she said. "I'll be okay."

Blackjack whinnied. It was obvious he didn't want to leave Reyna alone.

"Go on," Reyna told him.

He gave one last reluctant whinny and took off. Reyna drew her bow and set to tracking Percy. She figured they had landed just a little ways off from where Percy should have fallen.

She walked for a while, but then she realized that someone or something was following her. Reyna did a three-sixty around her. She couldn't see anyone, but she definitely sensed something.

"Psst, Reyna. Reyna!"

Reyna's eyes grew wide. She knew that voice. "Alley? Alley is that you?"

Reyna watched as the air behind her seemed to pull together, forming a faded, ghostly figure.

"Oh gods," Reyna breathed when Alley's figure appeared. "It is you." She tried to hide the tears from her voice.

"Of course it's me you nimrod," Alley said laughing. "And you better not start crying."

Reyna looked at her in disbelief. "Like that will happen. You're my sister. My _dead_ sister. And you expect me not to cry." She wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"Now isn't the time," Alley said. If she had been solid, she would have grabbed Reyna's arms. "Look Reyna. You and I both know what will happen. And I know that Dad told you that it had to happen."

"That's what I don't get Alley! How can we save the world if Percy _dies_?"

"I can't answer that, Rey," Alley replied. "That's a question you have to answer for yourself."

"But I can't!" Reyna said. "I'm only sixteen. Everyone's looking at me like I'm supposed to know the answers to everything, but I don't! I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" Even though she fought against them, Reyna still felt tears rolling down her cheeks.

Alley reached out to wipe the tears away. It didn't really work. Reyna just felt a slight breeze pass her cheek.

"I understand Reyna. It's hard to get used to. Everyone expects so much out of you, but sometimes you don't think you can live up to those expectations. But you can't give up. You have to keep trying, and stay confident. One thing that not many children of Apollo realize is that as children of the sun god, we are supposed to be lights in the world. When the world seems dark, rays of hope shine out. Apollo's kids are often those rays of hope."

"But how can I be a 'ray of hope' if I know there's nothing I can do to keep my friend from dying?"

Alley frowned. "I'm not sure, Reyna, but the important thing is to stay positive."

"Stay positive…" Reyna muttered. Hadn't Halley told her something like that not too long ago?

"Reyna?"

"Huh? What?" Reyna looked at Alley. Apparently, she had blanked out for a second.

"What were you thinking about?" Alley asked her.

"Oh, well I was just thinking how Halley told me something similar," Reyna explained.

Alley nodded. "So you know what you need to do now. You need to go find your friends. And I suggest you start looking up there." She pointed at Mt. Olympus, the top of which was surrounded by clouds.

"I need to find Percy first," Reyna argued.

"Think about it Rey: You know that Annabeth, Piper, and Leo will be on top of Olympus. Don't you think Percy will go up there?"

Reyna frowned. "You're right Alley. I don't know where Halley is, but surprisingly, that's not what I'm worried about. I've seen Halley in action, and I know she'll be okay."

"And Jason?"

"He told me that if we got separated, to go on and find the others. He'll be okay."

Alley nodded. "That works. Not too sure how Lupa would take it, but I understand. Now get going."

Reyna looked at Alley. After almost a year of not seeing her sister, she finally got to, but now she had to leave. She raised her hand in a goodbye gesture. Alley smiled and yet her palm against Reyna's. Reyna's eyes widened. She could actually feel her ghost sister's hand against her own.

"How…?"

"Good luck Reyna," Alley said. She lowered her hand and disappeared.

Reyna wasted no time taking off through the woods, making her way to Olympus.

**Leo**

That night, locked in a cage on top of Mt. Olympus with Halley sleeping not too far away, Leo thought he would have a peaceful night's sleep. But of course that didn't happen.

Leo's dream took him back to Sparta, where he watched the Hunters fight alongside the gods against the Giants. It wasn't pretty. When a flash of lighting shot up from the ground, Leo saw Thalia. She was running back and forth, shooting arrows up at the weak spots in the Giants armor.

"Thalia!"

Leo turned to see Nico running up behind her. He looked pretty tired, like it had been a very long, very hard fight.

"Nico? What is it?" Thalia wiped some sweat off her forehead.

"Artemis… sent me… get you…" Nico said, trying to catch his breath.

Thalia looked around, trying to see where Artemis was. "Right. I'll go. Thanks Nico."

Thalia took off running, shooting arrows as she went. More lightning crashed around her. Leo was just beginning to wonder why he was seeing this when the scene changed and he saw Jason back at Midas' house, after Leo and Piper had been turned into stone. Leo watched as Jason challenged Lit and then summoned a lightning bolt through the roof, directing it off his javelin.

Following that display was a scene Leo didn't recognize. He recognized where it was set, but not when it had happened. The scene was of Percy fighting a really tall dude with shining gold armor. For a second, Leo thought the guy Percy was fighting was Apollo, but that didn't really make any sense. Leo could only guess that this was a scene from the Titan war, and that the tall guy was a Titan. As the scene continued, Leo watched in amazement as the Titan tried to throw fire at Percy, but Percy put the fires out by creating his own personal mini-hurricane.

Another scene Leo didn't recognize came up. As near as he could tell, it was set at the Roman camp, obviously in a part Leo hadn't seen. He saw Aiden, Halley, and Reyna standing outside a shed. Anger ignited in Leo as he watched Aiden gesture into the shed.

"I think it's in there," he said.

Halley and Reyna both looked at him. "Are you sure Aiden?" Halley asked.

"Or are you tricking us?" Reyna asked. Leo couldn't help but notice how their roles seemed to change when it came to Aiden. While normally Reyna was the cautious one and Halley was outgoing aggressive one, it switched when they talked to Aiden. It was obvious that Reyna hated his guts, and Leo didn't blame her, especially after what Halley had told him.

"I'm not tricking you," Aiden said. "I swear."

Reyna glared at him. "You two can go in there and look for it. I'll stay out here."

Aiden shrugged, but Halley looked at Reyna with a mix of confusion and worry. Something told Leo that Halley wasn't worried about Reyna, but that she was worried about being alone with Aiden.

"Come on babe," Aiden said, wrapping his arm around Halley's shoulder and leading her inside.

They disappeared from view and only Reyna remained.

"That retarded son of harpy," she muttered. "He better not hurt Halley."

Jason walked up to Reyna. "What are you griping about now?" he asked her.

Reyna nodded towards the shed. "Aiden, that jackal head. He's up to something, I sense it."

Jason frowned. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know," Reyna said frowning. "But…" She paused and smelled the air. "Do you smell smoke?" she asked Jason.

He frowned and sniffed. Nodding he said "I do, but where do you…"

"The shed!" Reyna said in alarm. "Jason, go get help! Now!"

Jason didn't even hesitate before taking off running, leaving Reyna by herself.

"Oh gods, Halley!" Reyna called out. Without thinking, she charged into the building.

Shortly after that, Aiden stumbled out of the building. Laughing, he lit his hand with a white-hot flame and threw it at the shed then slammed the door shut. Apparently weak from over-use of his powers, he collapsed right in front of the door. Leo could hear Halley and Reyna screaming from the inside, trying to get out.

Leo wanted nothing more but to help the two of them, but he couldn't. The scene changed one final time and Leo saw himself back at the Wolf House, fighting Khione, a snow storm blazing around them.

"Hot?" Khione was saying. "You dare insult me? I am cold, Leo Valdez. Very, very cold."

Leo watched as she blasted his dream-self with wintry sleet and dream Leo blocked it with his fire.

"See, lady, that's what happens to snow in Texas. It-freaking-melts."

Leo woke up with a start. It was still night. Leo could see the stars above his head. He saw Halley sitting next to him looking concerned. "Why are you dreaming about snow melting in Texas?" she asked.

Leo looked at her. "I wasn't," he said. "I was dreaming about when I fought against Khione at the Wolf House."

"Khione?" Halley asked.

"She's the goddess of snow," Leo explained. "When we were at the Wolf House trying to save Hera, she showed up and tried to stop us. I was the only one who could fight her because she would freeze anyone else who tried to. Thalia knows about that first hand." Leo told her about the rest of his dream. Halley's face turned a little green at the part about Aiden. She rubbed her leg like it was bothering her.

"What happened to your leg?" Leo asked when he noticed.

Halley looked up at him in a bit of shock. "Oh," she said quietly. "It was burnt pretty badly that day. Reyna didn't wind up as bad as me, but she still barley made it out alive."

Leo touched her arm. Halley winced. "What is it?" Leo asked alarmed.

"When Aiden captured me," Halley started, "he… he burnt my arm." She slid off her jacket and showed Leo her arm.

Leo inspected the burn. It looked awful. "Do you have any med supplies in your bag?" he asked her. Then he realized that the arm that she was showing him was the same one her camp tattoo was on. Like Jason's, hers looked like it was burnt on. It was a bit distorted from her other burn, but Leo could make out a caduceus, obviously signifying she was the daughter of Mercury. The rest was like Jason's, the **SPQR** signifying Rome, and then ten bars showing how many years she had been at the camp.

Halley reached into her bag and pulled out the necessary medical supplies she needed. Leo asked her about her tattoo.

"So those tattoos you guys have…"

"They're like our I.D. badges," Halley explained. "Not one camper has exactly the same tattoo as another."

"Was it… was it burned on?"

Halley grimaced and nodded.

"Bet that hurt," Leo muttered.

"The first time was the worst, because it involved the most burns. But the belief is that if you can't stand the pain, then you're not fit to keep at camp. Fortunately, their nice enough to wait until you're at least six or seven before they brand you, so Reyna and Jason didn't have to worry about it when they first arrived at camp, considering they were only two."

"So when they got their tattoos, they had to get extra bars to make up for the years they missed?"

"Yeah," Halley answered. "That's one of the downsides to having to wait."

Piper and Annabeth stirred from where they were sleeping. "I woke up and Annabeth was on guard," Halley said. "She looked dead tired and I could tell she was upset. But as far as I know, she doesn't…" Halley lowered her voice "…she doesn't know about what's going to happen to Percy."

Leo looked at where Annabeth was. She was sleeping fitfully, like she was having a bad dream. He couldn't even imagine her killing Percy.

"Why would she kill him?" Leo asked Halley.

Halley got a distant look in her eyes. With a sigh she said "I don't know, Leo. There's no reason I can see of why she would."

Leo shook his head. "None of this makes sense."

Halley looked at him. "What do you mean exactly?"

"My dream, Reyna's vision, us getting captured… it's all connected somehow but I don't understand how it is."

Halley seemed to consider this. She frowned in concentration. After a few minutes of thinking, she finally said "Leo… in your dream you said you saw Thalia, Jason, and Percy all creating various storms. You also saw Aiden and yourself using your fire powers."

"And Khione," Leo muttered. "Can't forget the Queen of Frostbite."

"Yeah, her too," Halley said. Leo could tell from her tone that she wasn't really in the mood to joke around. "But think about it Leo. What if your dream was a warning?"

"A warning?"

Halley nodded. "It must have something to do with the Great Prophecy."

Leo looked at her in alarm. "That line… _to storm or fire, the world must fall_. Me and Jason were talking about that on our way from Sparta."

"So do you think those people you saw in your dream could be candidates for the part in the prophecy?" Halley asked.

Leo nodded. "Ever since I heard that prophecy… I've had this feeling…" He looked at Halley, hoping she would understand without him saying anything.

Halley touched his arm gently. "Prophecies come true in unexpected ways. With the last Great Prophecy, we all thought Jason was the foretold child of the Big Three. We didn't know about Percy, or Thalia, or Nico then. The only children of the Big Three we knew were Jason and Adria and Adria was nowhere near turning sixteen."

"Everyone keeps telling me that about prophecies," Leo said. "But I can't fight my gut feeling."

"I understand," Halley said. Looking down, she sighed. "We each have our own special roles to play in this prophecy. You believe that the second line's about you, and I think the third's about me."

Leo ran the prophecy through his head. "_An oath to keep with a final breath_," he recited. "You think that's about you?"

"I'm almost positive," Halley said. "It goes along almost perfectly with the line in Alley's prophecy: _The swift-footed thief_/_A promise shall keep_. Besides… I do have a promise that I need to keep."

Leo wanted to ask her what that promise was, but decided against it. Instead he told her "Get some sleep. We need to try and get out of here in the morning. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Halley smiled slightly. "Thanks Leo," she said kissing him on the cheek. Then she lay down, placing her head on his lap.

Leo ran his fingers through Halley's tangled ponytail and looked up at the stars, at all the constellations he recognized. If only he knew how right he was about tomorrow being a long day.

**So that's the end of chapter eight. I hope you guys enjoyed it. =) The next chapters will probably be up really soon (at least, I hope they will). I have them typed, but I still need to tweak them a bit to make them ready for posting.**

**REVIEW =)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Alright guys, like I promised, this chapter came up soon. As a pre-warning, these next few chapters are actually longer than my normal ones (I'm debating if that's a good thing or not). **

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I've worked super hard on it to make it epic. Kayla actually helped on this one and she takes credit for the biggest portion, which I guess I can give her considering the rest of the story is mine =)**

**Anyway, here's chapter 9. Enjoy =)**

Chapter 9: Destiny's Call

**Reyna**

Reyna was making her way through the woods to find a clearing for Blackjack to land in so she could reach the top of Olympus sooner. She had been traveling the entire night, but it didn't bother her. As adopted daughter of Artemis, Reyna had great night time vision. She eventually did find a large clearing that would be easy for Blackjack to find. Unfortunately, right as she was about to whistle for him, she heard the howls of Lycaon's werewolves. Reyna quickly dove into a nearby pond as the werewolves past by. She swam over to some cattails and hid among those, that way she could listen in. She didn't understand most of what they were saying, except for Lycaon. His voice seemed to carry straight to Reyna's ears:

"They say they have captured three of the Greeklings and a child of Rome," he said.

"Excellent," a chilly voice said. Reyna couldn't see who it was that was speaking, but she could tell two things: 1) the person/thing was female and 2) she wasn't a werewolf. Actually, it was three things: this lady was definitely a bad guy. "Was that... fiery nuisance one of the ones captured?"

"I believe so madam," Lycaon replied. "The other three are girls; the two Greek girls and one of the daughters of Rome."

"So that annoying daughter of Aphrodite is locked up too? Good. I've never liked that girl. It is because of her Jason Grace is alive right now."

Reyna's breath caught in her throat. Who was this person? And what did she have against Piper, Jason and Leo?

"We have locations on the son of Neptune and the son of Jupiter," Lycaon continued. "Only the blasted Hunter has evaded my scouts."

Reyna couldn't help but smirk. _Only the blasted Hunter_ she thought. _You might as well stop looking Wolfy, because you _won't_ find me_.

"If you can capture the two boys, then you should still have enough power to raise the Great Mother, even without the puny Huntress."

_Puny_? Reyna thought.

Just then, the ground seemed to shutter.

"The mistress calls us," Lycaon said.

"Go," the other voice replied. "And make sure you and your pack are well rested. If there happens to be a fight, you will be needed."

Lycaon nodded in response. Reyna watched as he walked off. A freezing cold breeze blew past her. Suddenly Reyna realized who Lycaon had been talking to.

"Khione!" she whispered. Reyna quickly climbed out of the pond. She took off running in the direction she had seen Lycaon go in. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed behind her eyes, and a vision replaced her line of sight.

Once again she saw the scene on Mount Tam where she shot the giant about to kill Halley, except this time, she saw it in clips like her second vision had been. She saw the giant raising his axe- of which she got a great close-up of- and saw her bow being pulled back and the arrow flying through the air. But instead of hitting the giant, Reyna saw the arrow fall and pierce itself into the ground.

The next scene was Jason lying unconscious at the foot of Kronos' throne, then him with his sword drawn with a murderous look on his face.

After that came Halley. The scene was of her flying through the air, dodging weapons as she went, until she got hit with one and was thrown to the side. Then there was a clip of Halley hugging Leo, her face hidden in his chest. Leo looked to like he was on the verge of tears, and it was pretty obvious Halley was crying. Following that was Leo standing with both of his hands lit with flame, looking like he was preparing to fight someone.

The scene changed to one of Piper, standing with tears in her determined eyes. She looked like she was pleading to someone.

The final scene was of Percy and Annabeth. Reyna saw it, and immediately recognized it. She wished she could look away, but that wasn't possible with visions. All Reyna could do was watch as Annabeth, tears running down her cheeks, drew her knife and stabbed Percy.

That's when the vision shut off, and Reyna found herself lying on the ground. It took her less than a second to jump up and start running again. This time, she let out her best taxi cab whistle as she ran. Within seconds, Blackjack landed down beside her with a whinny.

"Thank the gods!" Reyna said with a quick sigh of relief. "Blackjack! Percy's in trouble! I need you to get me to Mt. Olympus ASAP!"

Blackjack whinnied again and stopped to let Reyna get on his back. She was barely on when he took of to the sky.

**Annabeth/Halley**

Things were quiet in the cage. Halley and Leo were working to set up a bomb they hoped would let them escape. Annabeth didn't think it would work, though. She and Piper just stood to the side watching as the other two worked. Occasionally Annabeth would glance off to the side out into the mist. She couldn't see anything really past a hundred feet.

"Okay guys," Halley said. "I think we almost got it."

Leo finished strapping on one more explosive to bar of the cage with duct tape. "There's enough explosives here to blow up the Empire State Building. If this doesn't get us out of here, I don't know what will."

The two of them backed off quickly.

"This won't, like, explode us, will it?" Piper asked.

"It shouldn't," Halley muttered.

"You don't sound very reassured," Piper responded.

Halley gave her a look that read _are_ _you trying to tell me how to do my job?_ Then she said "I've exploded tons of things, Piper. Relax."

"It's not your skills I'm worried about," Piper said.

Halley laughed as Leo glared at Piper. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

Piper was about to respond when Annabeth called out. "Guys!" she said. "Look!"

The other three looked to where she was pointing. A person was coming out of the fog. Leo, Piper, and Halley didn't recognize at first, but Annabeth did.

"Percy? Is that you?"

"Yeah it's him," another voice called out from the fog.

Halley cursed. "Aiden," she said. "He captured Percy too."

"What?" Piper asked. "How…"

That's when Aiden and Percy came into better view. Percy's hands were tied behind his back, and Aiden was spinning his battle-ax around.

"Found this guy trying to sneak onto Olympus," Aiden said. "He's a friend of yours, right?"

"Why don't you go crawl back in your rat-hole, Aiden?" Halley called out.

"Easy there. I'm just making sure your friend gets here nice and safe."

"Safe my butt," Halley muttered. "Being tied up and threatened with an ax is not what I consider safe!" she called to Aiden, who had reached them by this time, but Halley still yelled at him. "Now why don't you let us go?"

"See, that's where there's a problem," Aiden said. "You see, we still need to raise Gaea, but we can't capture a god. Luckily, we came up with a back-up plan."

"And what is that?" Annabeth asked, though she had a pretty good idea of what it was, and wasn't too thrilled with it.

"Well you see, demigods all have a minimized form of godly powers. We figured that if we could capture enough demigods, that maybe we could raise Gaea with their powers."

"WHAT!" Halley, Leo, and Piper all said.

Aiden chuckled. "We just need one more."

"Jason," Annabeth and Percy said.

"That would be nice," Aiden said, "But we would accept any of the other children of the Big Three. If we got all five of them, then you four could go free." He pointed at the four in the cage.

"Or you could just set us all free and forget about us completely," Percy suggested.

"I like his idea," Leo said.

Aiden gave an evil smirk. "There is one way that you guys can be freed," he said looking at Percy. "On one condition."

"And what's that?" Percy asked.

Halley realized what was happening before the others did. "Say no Percy!" she said.

Percy gave her a confused look, and then turned back to Aiden. "What's your condition?" he asked again.

"Well, Percy, it's actually pretty simple. Your friends can go free, but _you_ will have to die in order for them to do that."

**Thalia**

"Give me crazed Titans any day," Thalia muttered as she tried not to collapse.

"You took a pretty nasty hit out there," Grover said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

They had been fighting the Giants when Thalia had gotten hit by the butt of one of their spears. She had a pretty decent sized knot on her head, and could barely stand up.

"Not really, goat-boy," Thalia said with a sigh. "We've been fighting these guys for three days now, and we've only succeeded in killing a few. Most of the time, they just fall and bounce right back up. My Hunters can't keep fighting like this."

"Neither can mine," Adria said as she walked over to where Thalia and Grover were. The fighting was still going on around them, but Thalia was in no condition to fight, and Grover wasn't much help since he wasn't a demigod.

"This is crazy," Grover muttered. "I told Jason and Percy you guys weren't ready to come out here."

"And I bet they told you that they had no choice," Nico said. He had a nasty cut on his leg and could hardly walk on it.

"Glad you guys are making me do all the doctoring stuff," Grover said.

"Well our healers can't right now," Thalia said. "They're sort of tied up at the moment."

"Those Giants are brutal," Nico said. "I can barely turn away from one without having another swing whatever weapon he has at me."

"They are not tiring very easily either," Adria stated. "While we are about to drop where we stand, they just keep coming."

"I hope the others are having better luck than we are," Thalia sighed.

**Jason**

After waking up from his dream, Jason had searched every inch of Athens, trying to find Halley. For some reason, he felt that she was still in the city.

"Where could she be?" he thought out loud.

"Jason," a voice said from behind him.

Jason spun around with his sword in his hand. When he saw who had spoken, he lowered his weapon, but didn't put it up. "Juno," Jason stated. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you…"

"Be fighting with the others?" Juno supplied. "Oh but I am. I'm also here, talking to you. You know that the gods can exist in more than one place at a time."

Jason frowned. "But why are you here?" he asked again.

"I knew you needed help."

"Yeah I need to find Halley," Jason said skeptically.

"You will not find her here," Juno said. "She is with your other friends. They need your help, Jason, much more than you need mine."

"Reyna's vision?" Jason asked.

Juno nodded. "You must go now Jason. I cannot tell you where, but I think you know."

"Olympus," Jason stated. He didn't even wait for Juno's conformation. He took a running start and leapt into the air.

**Percy**

Aiden's words took awhile to sink in. Leo, surprisingly, was the first one to register what he had said.

"Whoa? Wait! You can't kill Percy, man."

"You're right, Valdez," Aiden said, with too much joy in his voice. "_I_ can't kill him. With the whole Curse of Achilles and everything, only _he_ can kill himself."

Percy was still fighting to understand everything. Slowly, he said "So if I kill myself, you'll let them go?"

"That's right, Perseus Jackson."

There was a good deal of swearing from the cage when this voice spoke.

Percy turned and found himself face-to-face with Gaea for the first time. "I'm glad you understand my condition, Perseus. You can probably tell I'm not fully raised yet. It shall take much more power to ensure my full rise. But the question is: will you accept our most generous offer?"

Before Percy could answer, all Hades broke loose. Halley and Leo had detonated the explosions on the cage, which worked. The four in the cage ran out with their weapons drawn. Halley charged Aiden and the two of them started fighting in an intense battle. Annabeth ran to Percy and Piper and Leo charged Gaea together.

Gaea paid no attention to Piper and Leo, but instead turned to Annabeth and Percy.

"Ah, Annabeth, I should've guessed you would have raced to your boyfriend's side. Is it true that you are the only one who knows where his Achilles spot is?"

Piper and Leo froze in their tracks. Halley looked up from her fight, stopping long enough for Aiden to grab her arm. He set his hand aflame and Halley cried out in pain.

"Aiden stop!" Percy shouted out. He turned to Gaea. "You want my life! Take it! But let my friends go."

Evil smiles spread across both Aiden's and Gaea's faces. Aiden let go of Halley's arm. She backed away towards Leo.

"Glad you came to your senses, Perc," Aiden said. "But there is one more point to the condition we haven't covered yet."

"What more do you want?" Percy asked.

"Annabeth must be the one to kill you," Gaea said bluntly.

**Third Person**

"Say what?" Leo asked.

Suddenly, three cages shot up from the ground. Halley, Leo, and Piper were all trapped. Only Annabeth remained free. She untied Percy's hands.

"I can't kill you," she told him. "We'll find a way out of this. You don't have to die for us."

"You know there isn't another way out," Percy said. "This is how it has to happen. I die, you guys go free. Then you go find Jason and Reyna." Percy looked over at Gaea. "You have to swear that they'll be set free. Swear it on whatever you consider holy."

"I see you have learned some lessons from your brother," Gaea said. Percy grimaced at the memory. "Very well. I swear to your terms. I swear it on my own immortal life."

The earth shook violently and thunder clashed. It was easy to tell that swearing on Gaea's immortal life was much more serious than swearing on the Styx.

Percy took his sword and gave it to Annabeth. She looked up at him in disbelief "I can't kill you Percy," she said again, tears falling down her cheeks.

"You're the only one who can," he said, his face solemn and full of grief. "Annabeth... you're the only one."

"You don't know what you're asking me to do, Percy... I… this is harder on me than you."

"Please, Annabeth."

Tears were rolling down both of their cheeks as they hugged one last time. Wrapped in each other's arm, they were safe. With a final kiss they split apart.

Percy turned his back towards Annabeth. He stood with no fear; tall with his head high. He would die the death every hero wanted to die: noble and brave, serving a cause greater than them.

Annabeth stood behind him. She raised the sword but Percy said "Use your knife Annabeth." So Annabeth stabbed Percy's sword into the ground and unsheathed her knife.

"The_ hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap_." she said, looking at the knife in her hand. "I'll never be able to use this knife again."

She raised the knife, aiming it for Percy's back. Then she closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks, and stabbed him….

**Annabeth POV**

She couldn't do this; no she wouldn't do this….

Tears were streaming down her face; she felt like someone had literally just ripped her heart out of her chest and stomped on it till there was nothing left.

She barley heard the words that Percy was saying…

"You're the only one who can," he said, "Annabeth… you're the only one."

Every fiber in her body was screaming at her as she stabbed Percy's sword in the ground and unsheathed her knife…

"_The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap."_ She stared at the knife in her hand. "I'll never be able to use this knife again"

With her whole body shaking, rebelling against what she was about to do…she raised the knife, squeezed her eyes shut as tight as they would go, and with that in one quick motion she stabbed him…her Percy, the only boy she had ever loved…the one she had dreamed about spending the rest of her life with…gone…forever…

**Jason **

Jason was pushing himself flying faster than he ever had before, bending and twisting the air currents to propel himself faster and faster…after he and Percy had gotten separated he got this gut feeling of where he needed to go…Mt. Olympus. He had this feeling that something terrible was going to happen, something that was going to end with someone dying.

_Come on, just a little faster… _Jason thought.

Then he saw them…Annabeth and Percy standing on top of Mt. Olympus; Annabeth poised to run her knife through Percy's back…Jason was still too far away for them to hear but he screamed anyway.

"ANNABETH! STOP! NOOOOO!"

Then, almost faster than Jason could comprehend, Annabeth stabbed Percy…he could only watch as Percy crumpled to the ground as Annabeth tried to catch him…and in that single moment the two emotions that were battling for his attention were shock and anger…shock at what had just happened, and blinding anger at Annabeth for killing Percy…

**Annabeth **

_"What have I done? Why…why did I do this…it's all my fault." _

Was what Annabeth was thinking just as Jason toppled onto the top of the mountain about 50 feet away from where she was sitting crying over Percy's body…

"HOW COULD YOU ANNABETH!" Jason screamed as he stormed up to her.

"You…you just killed him in cold blood…You. Are. A. Traitor." Jason ground out the words as he drew his sword.

"Jason, stop it. You don't know the whole story…Jason stop right now" Piper said, she was layering on the charmspeak thick but Jason was somehow just ignoring it. He was too focused to even realize that Piper, Halley, and Leo had just appeared.

"WHAT IS THERE TO KNOW? I just watched Annabeth MURDER Percy… that in itself is enough"…he raised his sword over his head.

"Jason please don't do this…you don't want to…please "Annabeth said as her voice broke, "I can't kill you to"

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jason screamed as he slashed his sword down with every ounce of strength in him….

Only to be stopped by the fact that his sword uselessly sunk into the ground…Annabeth was now a good 10 feet away Percy behind her, knife drawn, tears streaming down her cheeks…poised and ready to fight.

**Jason **

He charged at Annabeth…sword swinging ready to strike the fatal blow; he was so completely beyond anger; he was being drowned by the myriad of emotions that was swirling around inside of him right now…they were blocking everything else out…he felt no pain, no remorse. He was being driven by his anger.

He jabbed his sword to the right and then straight at her thinking that he could fake her out…but he didn't stop to think that Annabeth's emotions were running even higher than his were at the moment…she parried his strike and went straight for his middle. Jason jumped backwards just in time to miss her blow, but at the same time fell onto the ground…but instead of rushing in and just finishing him off like any fighter with any training would of, she just stood and stared at him. An Iris Message appeared between them then, and Nico's face appeared.

"You guys! Percy still has a chance but you've got to get him help fast!"

"He…he, he's not dead?" Annabeth managed to choke out.

"No, he's not. But he will be soon if the two of you don't stop fighting and do something!"

The fight drained out of Annabeth then… in one slow motion she turned her back to Jason, and stooped down, grabbed one of Percy's arms and swung it over her shoulder…

Then finally, finally she turned to look at Jason…looked him straight in the eyes…

"Jason, I can't carry him all by myself." Her voice quiet and broken, as she lowered her head.

"Please" she pleaded in a whispery voice, "Please Jason, if there is going to be any chance of Percy living you _have got_ to help me"

**Annabeth **

Annabeth watch Jason warily as he slowly stood and walked toward her. She could see the emotion draining from his face as the full realization of what had just happened hit him.

"I'll help you…but only for Percy's sake, not yours." He said bitterly.

"That's fine, all that matters is we get Percy some help…before it's too late…."

And with that Jason gently grabbed Percy's other arm and swung it over his shoulder.

"Well you're the one with the plan. Where too?"

"I hav…"

"I know where!" a girl's voice called down from the sky. The group looked up to see where it had come from, but they couldn't see anything past the clouds.

"REYNA!" Halley, startled, called "Is that you?"

There was the sound of beating wings and the clopping of horse hooves. Reyna appeared out of the fog on Blackjack. When she saw Annabeth and Jason supporting Percy, her eyes started to brim with tears. "I know where we need to go," she said softly. "It's not very far, but we need to get Percy there as fast as we can if we want even a small chance of saving him."

"Reyna, you and Blackjack take Percy and Annabeth," Halley said. Out of all of them, she seemed to be the one who still had a working brain. "Jason and I will follow with Piper and Leo."

Reyna nodded and steered Blackjack to where Annabeth and Jason stood. Blackjack whinnied mournfully when as he gently sniffed Percy's head. Jason, Annabeth and Reyna all worked to get Percy onto Blackjack's back, then Annabeth jumped on.

"Where are we going?" Annabeth asked Reyna.

"Poseidon's temple," Reyna said. "Let's go Blackjack."

**…**

The Pegasus took off, leaving the other four behind. Jason turned away from the direction they had gone. He was furious, that much was obvious. None of the other three really wanted to say anything to him, but they knew that he needed to understand what had really happened.

"Look Jason," Piper started. "You're jumping to conclusions. You should know better than to think Annabeth would just plain out kill Percy. She loves him."

"Then why did she?" Jason snapped.

"To save us!" Halley said. "Gaea, she…she manipulated his fatal flaw. She captured us and said that if Percy sacrificed himself, she'd let us go."

"But Gaea and Aiden were working to destroy us indirectly," Leo said quickly. "They said that it would have to be Annabeth who killed him, or else they wouldn't accept the sacrifice."

"Aiden's working for Gaea?" Jason asked. His voice was calmer now, but there still was an edge to it.

Halley nodded solemnly.

"He's still alive, bro," Leo said. "Halley tried to attack him, but it was kind of hard since we were locked up."

"So Annabeth was forced to kill Percy?" understanding dawned on his face.

"Yes," Halley said quietly, head down, "She had no other choice, Percy made her... you know, he has the same fatal flaw as you," her shoulders were shaking now with silent sobs, "try and put yourself in that position Jason. What would you have done?"

**Reyna**

She was crumbling on the inside and there was nothing she could do about it.

_I have to stay strong for Annabeth, I have to. _

It was hurting so bad, Reyna didn't know how much longer she could go on without breaking down into tears. It was her fault this whole thing happened in the first place…she should've been able to stop it, should of found a way to save Percy…Annabeth…the whole world. But seeing Annabeth the way she was right now, broken and drained of everything, she didn't know how much longer she could handle all of this, the pain, the sorrow, the death and destruction that wars brought along with them.

"I can see the temple Annabeth! We're almost there!" Reyna shouted above the wind rushing around them.

**Annabeth**

When the temple finally came into view Annabeth felt the tiniest flicker of something…maybe hope and maybe just wishful thinking. She was afraid to hope. Everything was so unstable and unpredictable right now, she didn't know what to believe in it anymore.

"We're almost there Percy," she whispered desperately, "hang on a little bit longer, please…for me, for everyone."

A few minutes later they landed roughly on the hard packed dirt courtyard in front of the Poseidon Temple.

"What now?" Annabeth asked.

"We need to get him inside," Reyna said. "I… I'll try and heal him."

Annabeth stared at Reyna. "You know that will completely drain you, right?"

Reyna looked at Annabeth. Annabeth couldn't really read her expression. It was mixed with grief and something else… guilt. Reyna didn't say anything, but Annabeth was able to connect the dots.

"This is what you saw in your vision, isn't it?"

Reyna looked away. When she spoke, Annabeth could hear the tears in her voice. "I could have prevented this," she said. "I could have protected him… protected you. But I didn't. I don't care if it drains me, I have to try and save him. I've seen too many of my friends die when I could have done something to save them. I don't want that to happen to Percy."

As Reyna talked, Annabeth watched her. That's when something dawned on her. Reyna was sixteen. So was Percy. All of the seven were either fifteen or sixteen, and yet, they were out here fighting to the death with a bunch of Giants. Reyna was talking about saving friends lives. Percy was almost dead. Annabeth knew her life wasn't normal compared to a non-demigod teen, but she realized now that her life wasn't normal compared to the average demigod either.

"Is there a pool in this temple," Annabeth asked Reyna quietly.

"There should be," Reyna replied.

"We need to put Percy in that. Water usually has a healing effect on him."

"Good idea." Reyna and Annabeth knelt down to pick up Percy and carried him into the temple. There was a pool in there and the two girls laid Percy down. Annabeth knelt down and laid his head in her lap.

"Annabeth?" Percy said in a weak voice.

"I'm here," Annabeth responded.

"We need to turn him on his side," Reyna said. "Didn't you... I mean..." Reyna bit her lip, not knowing what to say.

"The small of his back," Annabeth said. Her head was lowered and she didn't look up at Reyna. "That's where I stabbed him."

Reyna didn't say anything, but gently helped Annabeth turn Percy on his side.

"Reyna's going to try and heal you," Annabeth told him.

"It's pretty deep," Reyna muttered. "Tell Percy this might hurt some."

Annabeth was about to relay the message when Percy said "I heard her, but Reyna you don't need to do this."

The door opened and the other four came in.

"Percy," Reyna said firmly, "I'm not going to sit by and watch you die like I did Alley. You don't know how much we need you."

With that, Reyna held her hands a few inches off of the wound and began to sing. Everyone could tell this was harder on her than healing Halley's wound had been. While she had been battling werewolf magic then, she was battling the magic of the Styx now.

Halley saw how Reyna was struggling and joined in her song. Halley had seen Reyna heal enough that she knew it helped when more voices were singing. Apparently Apollo liked that. Halley's voice matched perfectly with Reyna's. If you hadn't known better, you would've thought Halley was a daughter of Apollo too.

Jason joined in next. He wasn't the greatest singer, but at this point it didn't matter. After him, Piper and Leo both started, except instead of singing in Latin like the other three, they somehow were able to sing in Ancient Greek, even though normally both of them were horrible with the language.

A bright glow started to form around Reyna's hands. This time, it grew so bright that it engulfed Reyna, Percy and Annabeth. The other four stopped singing and watched in amazement. It lasted for what seemed like forever, and then with a flash disappeared. Reyna almost collapsed into the water, but Halley quickly ran up and caught her.

"I... I couldn't do it, Annabeth," Reyna said. Her voice was choked with tears. "I... couldn't heal him completely. I just bought him a little time."

"That's okay, Reyna," Annabeth replied, tears rolling down her cheeks and making ringlets in the pool. "You did the best you could."

Reyna covered her face with her hands. Halley, who was kneeling down beside her patted her back and cried with her. Piper, Leo, and Jason walked over to the others. No one spoke for a while, until Percy did.

"Leo?" he asked.

Leo looked up in surprise and walked over to where Percy could see him better. "Yeah bro, I'm here."

"Just thought you should know that you built the best boat I've ever seen or had the privilege to ride in," Percy said.

Leo gave a sad grin. "Thanks man."

Jason, Piper, Halley and Reyna moved over beside Leo.

"Piper," Percy said, "you're the first daughter of Aphrodite I've ever known to be able to fight while hooking people up."

Piper blushed. "It's a gift," she said.

"Halley, you kick butt, even mine, and you don't break falls very well."

"Don't embarrass me or I'll have to kick your butt again," Halley laughed.

Percy gave a slight smile then turned to Reyna. "Thanks for trying Reyna," he said sadly. "You care about people, and that's something to be proud of."

"I learned it from you," Reyna said.

"And Jason. Man, I don't see how you managed to kept those Romans straight all those years."

"I don't see how you kept the Greeks straight," Jason responded.

"Well now you've got to do both," Percy said seriously. "Think you can handle that?"

"You know I can," Jason said.

Percy nodded and turned to Annabeth. They both had so much they wanted to say right then, but neither of them could find the words to say it.

"You always had my back," Percy said. "Even when it didn't need protecting."

"Same here," Annabeth agreed.

"Be strong for the others," Percy whispered to her. "They'll need you to fight against Porphyrion. Promise me you will."

"I… I promise," Annabeth whispered.

"I will always love you, Annabeth."

And with those words, Percy Jackson died.


	11. Chapter 11

**I couldn't bring myself to leave an AN at the end of my last chapter. Mostly because I figured that after you guys read it, you wouldn't want to read my opinion on it. I will tell you that while I was writing my parts in that chapter (and this chapter also) that I was practically in tears. Kayla was too. So don't think I'm cruel and heartless, because I promise you, I'm not. You'll figure that out by the end of this chapter =)**

**Chapter 10! Enjoy =)**

Chapter 10: The Hero's Not Supposed to Die

**Annabeth**

"No!" Annabeth cried. "No! Percy, please! Don't leave me." She broke down into a fit of body shaking sobs.

_Percy… _she thought. _Percy can't be gone. It's not possible._

But as she looked down at the motionless body in her arms, all hope faded. Percy was gone. His clothes were wet; his black hair dripping with water. Annabeth reached up and gently touched the gray streak in his hair.

Percy, the boy she had met when they were twelve years old and one of the first things she ever told him was that he drooled in his sleep.

The hopeless Seaweed Brain that never knew what was going on, but still somehow managed to save the day.

The person that Annabeth had almost died with, and died for, countless times.

The Hero of Olympus, who had turned down immortality for her.

Annabeth's one and only love.

Her best friend.

Percy.

He was dead. And she had killed him.

**Halley**

The others stood back near the door, giving Annabeth and Percy some space. Letting them have one last moment together.

Not one eye was dry. While Leo and Jason tried unsuccessfully to hold their tears back, putting on their "brave faces", the girls let the tears flow freely.

Halley watched as Percy drew his last breath, and Annabeth fell apart. It was all too familiar. Halley choked back her own sobs and buried her face in Leo's shirt. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back.

"Percy was the hero," she whispered. "The hero's not supposed to die."

After all the fights Halley had fought, all the battles she'd been in, all the wars she'd seen. All that she had went through to be standing here now, watching one of her friends lying dead in his girlfriend's arms. It was just too much. Halley had had it with the wars. She had seen too many of her friends die; had seen too much of the pain their death had left on their friends. She had felt that pain too much herself. The hurt never got better; you just had to learn to live with it there. But Halley knew that learning to live with an empty space in your life was not easy.

"Why does this have to happen?" she asked. Her voice was muffled by Leo's shirt, so no one heard her but him. "Why do people have to die?"

"It's part of life," Leo whispered to her. "It has to happen eventually. But that doesn't make it any easier to deal with."

Halley looked up at him and for a moment saw him as a scared little eight-year-old, orphaned and homeless. She laid her head back down on his chest. "It's not fair," she muttered. "They don't ask to die."

Leo ran his fingers through her tangled brown hair. "They don't usually, but it's out of their power. When it's their time..."

"Still," Halley said, hiding her face again, so her voice was muffled when she said "It wasn't Dakota's or… or Caleb's time." She started crying again.

"It never is anyone's time," Leo said quietly.

**Piper**

Piper couldn't even begin to comprehend what was happening. Her brain was numb, asleep, and she didn't care if it ever woke up.

Percy was dead. Halley and Annabeth, two of the strongest and most together girls Piper had ever met, had both fallen apart; their resolve lost. Leo's mouth was shut (for the most part) and for once, he wasn't bouncing around and fiddling with gears and other mechanic pieces. He was stock still, with the exception of his hand rubbing Halley's back.

Reyna was standing quietly, clutching her bow tightly in her hand. Her head was lowered; her face was a mix of anger and regret. She glanced up at Percy and Annabeth, and pain filled her expression. Reyna moved her lips, like she was talking. Piper couldn't make out what she had said, but by the way Reyna looked, she had a pretty good idea that Reyna felt guilty for some reason.

Piper looked up to where Jason was standing behind her. The way he had acted earlier… the way he had attacked Annabeth after she stabbed Percy. He hadn't even heard when Piper had tried to stop him. It was like he had been… possessed. Yeah, that was it. He had been possessed by anger and was in shock. He had acted out of that, and hadn't thought. Once he put his head back together, Jason had realized that he needed to help Annabeth instead of fight her.

Still, Piper was worried about him. She was worried about all of them. Percy's death had changed the group. As insane as Percy had been at times, it seemed that when he died, the group's sanity died with him.

**Nico**

"Hurry guys!" Thalia called.

Nico groaned. He knew why she was telling them to hurry, but apparently, Thalia and Grover had forgotten that Nico wasn't a Hunter or half goat. He was having some trouble keeping up.

It had been Grover that had come up with the idea to go find the others. He had gotten this feeling via empathy-link that Percy was in trouble. Thalia had sweet talked Artemis into transporting them to Olympus. Unfortunately, Artemis had only transported to the _foot_ of the mountain. The three had to climb up the mountain by themselves.

Suddenly, Nico felt that buzzing in the back of his head, the same felling he got when someone died. For some reason, this feeling was stronger than one he had ever felt before, even when Bianca had died. He knew immediately who it was. Nico stopped dead in his tracks. "Thalia!" he called out.

Thalia grumbled and turned around to face him. "Nico, we don't have time for this! We need to get to the others!" She would have continued to rant, but Grover stopped her.

"Thalia," Grover whispered, gently touching her arm.

Thalia looked at Nico. The expression on his face said everything. "Oh," she said quietly. "Oh no." She and Grover walked up to Nico.

"We're too late," Nico said. His voice was a mix between anger and sadness.

"Dang-it!" Thalia said. She looked up at the sky, like she wanted to cuss out her dad. "Why does this have to happen?" she cried out, her voice already choked with tears. "They don't deserve it! Why?" Thalia stabbed her spear into the ground. Nico and Grover back away instinctually. Neither of them was really feeling like being electrocuted, and the air around Thalia was starting to act like a mini lightning storm.

"We still need to go there," Grover said. "They need us there now more than ever. Well… at least they need you two."

"They need you too, Grover," Thalia said. "Maybe not for help with fighting, but definitely for moral support. Oh, gods, Annabeth's going to be so torn up."

Nico didn't want to point it out, but Thalia was starting to act pretty torn up too. "I know how we can get there," Nico said. "I just need to call Mrs. O'Leary."

Nico dug a whistle out of his pocket while Thalia and Grover stood and stared at him like he had gone crazy. Nico's whistle was Stygian ice, and one use, but Nico had met a guy in the Underworld that made them pretty cheap. He blew the whistle and waited. Thalia and Nico didn't hear it, but Grover covered his ears and yelled at Nico.

In about two seconds flat, Mrs. O'Leary appeared. "Hop on you two," Nico said.

Warily, Grover and Thalia climbed on to the hellhound's back. "Take them to the top," Nico whispered into Mrs. O'Leary's ear. She barked and sprinted off to the shadows.

Nico waited a few seconds then set off on his own. He was headed to the same place the others were.

**Jason**

It was Reyna's idea to go outside. She told Annabeth and then herded the rest of them out. Once outside, they all slumped down onto the steps, all of them quiet.

Halley finally asked "What now?"

They all thought for a few minutes. With Percy gone, and Annabeth so distraught, they were lacking two of their best fighters.

Jason stood. He looked around at the group. They were all sporting various bruises, cuts, and scratches. They all were covered in dirt. The tear streaks on the girls' cheeks were obvious. He could see their bloodshot eyes, the dark circles underneath them. Jason couldn't see his own face, but he figured there wasn't much of a difference.

He turned and looked out across the commons area. The temples here were designed in the same way the cabins at Camp Half Blood were, the same way the thrones of the gods were positioned.

Out past the end temples lay the barren landscape of Mount Olympus. Fog and Mist shrouded Jason's vision, so it was hard for him to see what lay farther on. Not that he needed to. He knew exactly what was waiting for them out there.

"Porphyrion is still out there," Jason said to the others. "He'll be coming to find us, because we're the only thing standing in his way. And since their latest plan to raise Gaea failed because of us, he'll probably be madder than ever."

"Great," Leo said while the others digested what Jason had said. "I've always wanted to be on the king of the Giant's bad side!"

"You've never been on his good side," Piper muttered.

"And you're point is...?" Leo said arching his eyebrows.

Piper just grumbled something inaudible and went back to drawing pictures in the dirt with her knife.

"So you think he'll come here?" Reyna asked.

Jason nodded. "I think he'll come to wherever we are. So we should probably stay out of places where mortals are. We don't want to risk them getting hurt."

The others nodded in agreement. Piper asked "So where do we go? Or should we stay here?"

Everyone thought on this. They didn't know what to do. It wasn't like they had any specific place to be. And none of them were exactly eager to run out and meet Porphyrion in battle.

Halley was the first to speak up "I don't know about you guys," she said, "but I don't think that we should try and hide from him. He's going to find us eventually anyway, so why should we prolong it? I vote we stay here and rest while we can. Wait for him to come to us, and then fight him with all we've got."

"That makes sense," Reyna said. "But were forgetting one thing: the gods aren't here. They're still fighting the other Giant's in Sparta. And without them, well never be able to beat Porphyrion."

"Not to mention two of our best fighters are... unavailable," Leo muttered.

"We can't let that stop us!" Piper said, standing up next to Jason. "How do you think they would react? Besides, we still have Annabeth. She just needs to pull herself together."

**Annabeth**

With the others outside, the Poseidon temple felt even colder and emptier than ever. The same way Annabeth's heart felt.

She couldn't feel anything. Not even the cold wetness of the pool. Her legs were soaked from her kneeling beside Percy. She didn't notice though. She had barely even heard Reyna telling her that they were going outside. Annabeth was numb to the world.

She did hear the others walk out the door. When the door closed, Annabeth gently laid Percy down on the ground beside her. She then pulled her knees up to her chin and buried her face in them. More choking sobs came.

"Oh Percy," Annabeth whispered, still crying. "Why? Why'd you let me do it?"

She was sitting silently with her head down, her tears gone, and her sobs turned to shaky breaths, when she felt a gentle hand touch her shoulder. Annabeth startled and turned to see Thalia standing there. Grover and Nico were standing behind her. Annabeth hadn't even heard them come in. With Thalia and Nico it wasn't that surprising, since Thalia was a Hunter and Nico walked like a ghost. But Grover wasn't wearing fake feet; he just had his hooves, so he wouldn't have been able to walk without making noise.

Thalia and Grover's eyes were brimmed with tears, and Nico's face was grim. He almost looked like he was wincing.

"Hi guys," Annabeth said quietly.

"Annabeth," Thalia said quietly, kneeling down beside her friend. She looked at Percy's lifeless body lying beside Annabeth. More tears formed in her eyes. "How... how did this happen?"

Annabeth felt her tears coming back, which was odd because she had been almost sure that she was out of tears. "He did it to save us," she said. "Piper, Leo, Halley and I had been captured, and they were going to try and use our powers to raise Gaea, since it hadn't worked with Hera, and they couldn't capture all of the children of the Big Three."

"They were trying to capture us?" Nico asked.

Annabeth nodded. "Your powers combined would've been enough to raise Gaia. But they couldn't get hold of you two. They would've caught Percy and Jason, had their plan worked."

"If they had captured all seven of you," Grover said, "they might've raised Gaia. Jason and Percy, plus the other five of your powers would've been enough to replace Thalia and Nico; maybe... it might've worked." Grover's face shifted from sad to terrified.

"So how did Percy save you guys?" Thalia wanted to know.

"Gaea's demigod agent, Aiden, told us that if Percy would sacrifice himself, that he'd let us go. He must've known Percy's fatal flaw... he knew Percy would agree to it." Annabeth wiped a few tears from her eyes.

"And he knew that he wouldn't be able to kill Percy, because of the curse of Achilles," Nico said. "Percy was the only one who could've killed himself."

"But he didn't," Annabeth said quietly.

"Then who did?" Thalia asked.

Annabeth looked up at her. "I did."

The looks on the other three faces were a mix between disbelief, horror, and plain out confusion.

"You...?" Grover asked

"Why?" Thalia cut in. "And how? You didn't know his Achilles spot," she paused and looked at Annabeth skeptically, "did you?"

Annabeth didn't say anything. She just hung her head sadly.

"Blah-ha-ha," Grover bleated. "You did!"

"How did you learn that?" Nico asked. "I didn't even know, and I was there when he swam in the Styx!"

"After I took that knife for him during the Titan war," Annabeth explained. "He told me that he would've died had I not taken it for him."

"Ethan knew too?" Grover asked. "Right?"

"We think so," Annabeth said sadly. "He was the one that almost stabbed him, and did stab me." She winced and rubbed her arm in memory of the old wound.

Thalia must've noticed because she quickly changed the subject, not that her next topic was any better. "So why did you, Annabeth? I mean sure, all of us have probably wanted to kill Percy at least once, except maybe Grover. But you were the last person I ever expected to kill him. I figured I would before you did." She was trying hard to put humor in her words, but it wasn't working.

"Gaea said I had too," Annabeth said. "They want us destroyed. They said they wouldn't except his death in place of our freedom if I wasn't the one who killed him. He asked me to do it… to kill him with my knife."

"You killed him with your knife?" Thalia asked in shock. "The same knife Luke gave you? The same one that killed him?"

Annabeth couldn't answer. Instead she just pulled her knife out of its sheath and looked at it. Blood still tainted its metal. In one angry movement, Annabeth turned and threw it.

It hit a fountain in the corner; one they had thought was broken. But when the knife hit it, it cut off its spout, and water spurted out with a spray.

**Thalia/Nico**

"Oops," Thalia said.

"Sorry guys," Annabeth muttered.

"No," Nico said, a thoughtful look on his face. "It's okay. It's actually given me an idea."

He walked over towards the fountain, and examined it.

"What are you doing, Nico?" Thalia asked. "What idea?"

"I need to send an Iris-Message, but there isn't any light to create a rainbow."

"Oh, I can help with that," Thalia said with a mischievous grin. She pulled out her spear and pointed it at the ceiling above the fountain. With a thundering crash, lightning shot out of the end of her spear, blowing a hole in the ceiling.

"Cake," Thalia said while she put her spear away.

As soon as the dust settled, sunlight filtered into the room. They looked up at the hole, which was about five feet in diameter.

"Bit overkill, don't you think?" Grover asked Thalia. "Not to mention you just blasted a hole in the roof of Poseidon's temple. Don't think he'll be happy about that."

"He'll be fine with it," Nico said. "Besides, that's who I'm sending a message to."

While the others looked at him in shock, Nico pulled a drachma out of his pocket and tossed into the fountain. "Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Lord Poseidon, um…" Nico paused while trying to think of where Poseidon might be. "Uh, wherever he is."

The image shimmered and shifted to reveal Poseidon standing in full battle armor, right beside Zeus and Hades. Nico, Thalia, and Grover gulped.

"Uh, Nico?" Thalia whispered. "We're you expecting _our_ dads to be with him."

Nico shook his head and took a deep breath before calling out "Excuse me, sirs."

All three gods turned to look at him. Hades spoke first. "Nico?"

"Thalia?" Zeus chimed in.

"What are you doing in my temple?" Poseidon finished.

"Long story," Thalia answered. "We don't really have time for it. The only reason we called was because… well… we need some help." She looked at Nico for assistance.

"What kind of help?" Hades asked, his eyebrows arching.

"Well, sirs," Nico said. "I don't know if you know this already, but Percy's dead." He tried not to wince as he said that. Even as the son of Hades, the death of a friend was still hard to deal with. Almost harder, because he could actually talk with them.

The gods' expressions all read different things. Hades' said "well duh, I knew that", Zeus' looked almost smug; as if he was happy that Percy was dead. Thalia really hoped that he wasn't. Poseidon's was as expected: the "oh-my-gods-my-son-is-dead, what-the-Hades, how-when…" etc.

"Dead?" was what Poseidon said aloud. "How?"

Thalia and Nico exchanged glances.

"I don't think we have time to explain, sir," Thalia said. "But the thing is: we kind of need Percy with us. Not only is he an amazing fighter, and a leader, but he also played an important role in keeping the seven together. They've fallen apart without him."

"And what do you expect us to do about it?" Hades asked, though Thalia and Nico both knew that he had a pretty good idea of what they wanted.

"Father," Nico said, "I think that you know what we want. Percy might've turned it down last summer, but it's not his decision to make anymore. We need Percy. We can't face Porphyrion without him." Nico used the same tone he had used last summer when he was trying to persuade his father to help in the Titan war. It had worked then; hopefully it would work now.

"You want us to bring Jackson back?" Zeus said. "And make him _immortal_ as well? What makes you think that we would be willing to do that?"

"Perhaps not you, Dad," Thalia said, "But to be honest, we weren't messaging you and Lord Hades. We just wanted to talk to Lord Poseidon."

Poseidon's eyebrows rose. He said "And you believe that I would be willing to bring Percy back, and make him immortal?"

"We were kind of hoping that, sir," Grover stuttered.

"Lord Poseidon, you _must_ know how much we need Percy," Thalia said. "He's saved all of our lives more than once."

"He's one of the best fighters I've ever seen," Nico said. "Even better than some of the children of Ares."

"Probably because he actually has a half-way set of morals," Thalia muttered. "At least as much as a demigod can."

That's when Annabeth walked up into the view of the Iris message. "Please, sir. I was the main reason Percy didn't chose immortality last summer. But now I'm going to let him. I don't want him dead. Percy doesn't deserve that. Not after all he's done."

The gods were silent for a moment. Poseidon finally said "Perhaps what you kids say is true. We will discuss this more, but you must leave now. Go outside to your other friends. With or without Percy, you will have to fight Porphyrion."

"But what about the gods?" Thalia asked. "We can't beat Pyphorion without a god's help!"

"We cannot help you, daughter," Zeus said. As Thalia opened her mouth to protest, he added "Give Jason this message," Zeus waved his hand and all of a sudden a papyrus envelope appeared in the air in front of Thalia. She reached up and took it. It was stamped with the seal of Zeus (an eagle clutching a lightning bolt) and was postmarked by Hermes Express.

"Jason will understand its message," Zeus continued. "You and he will both have to fight harder than you've ever fought in this battle. All of the heroes will."

Thalia nodded, and then turned to the others. "We should go now. Porphyrion's not gonna wait for us."

So together the four of them left them temple, the Iris message behind them still shimmering in the sun.

**Halley**

Halley couldn't wash away the feeling of guilt that she had. They should've prevented Percy's death, but they hadn't. Now she felt like his death was her fault, same as Dakota. Two heroes she could've saved, but hadn't.

Finally Halley couldn't take it anymore. She looked at Reyna and whispered "We need to tell them."

Reyna nodded and said "I agree, but I don't want to. They might get upset that we hadn't said anything about it sooner."

"That's what we have Jason for," Halley said, as she stood. Reyna stood with her.

"Guys," Halley said, getting the other three's attention. "We have something to say. Mostly Reyna, but I'm in on it too."

Reyna shot Halley a hateful glare, and then turned toward the others. "I should have told you earlier, but I knew that Percy was going to be killed by Annabeth."

"What?" Piper asked in alarm. Leo kept his face as emotionless as possible. He had already known, of course.

Jason had a look of alarm on his face too, but his read "you sure you should tell them?" not "why didn't you tell us?"

"That vision I had early on in the trip," Reyna said, pointing this statement towards Piper, "The one with the knife. You and Annabeth both asked if I saw who was holding it, and I had. I also saw who she was stabbing. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you guys."

"So the people in your vision," Piper said, "That was Annabeth and Percy?"

Reyna nodded as tears filled her eyes.

Piper looked from Halley to Jason. "You said you were in on it too," she told them. "How?"

"Reyna told me and Jason. She wasn't going to, but we kind of forced her," Halley replied.

Piper turned to Jason. "You knew?" she asked.

Jason nodded. "Reyna swore us to secrecy. I couldn't tell you."

"I made them swear on the Styx, even though that's not what Romans usually swear on." **  
(I'm not sure about what the Romans swore on, so this part is a bit original.)**

"No," Halley said. "You made us swear on the Styx, _and _the Roman Empire." To Leo and Piper she said "That's about as serious as you can get with swearing on something. Unless if you swear on those two, plus Eternal Rome… did we swear on that?"

"I don't know," Jason said. "I just remember swearing not to tell."

"You're a lot of help," Halley said sarcastically.

They all laughed. Once it had calmed down some, Piper asked "So why didn't you tell us?"

"Knowledge isn't always a good thing," Reyna said. "I didn't want everyone to know because someone might try to change it. It was hard enough for the three of us to know."

They all fell quiet. They stayed like that for a few minutes, each probably thinking of what they could've done to stop Percy's death. All of a sudden there was a loud thunder crash and a bolt of lightning shot through the roof of the temple.

"What the heck?" Leo asked.

Everyone turned towards Jason.

"Wasn't me," he said holding his hands up defensively.

"Must've been Thalia," Reyna said.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Why would she blow a hole in the roof?" Halley asked after an awkward pause. It was actually more like an awkward five minutes. They had all gone back into that silence they had been in before Thalia's interruption, except this time they were all wondering what Jason's crazy sister was up to.

"Good question," Jason said. "I'll go see what's up."

But right as he reached for the door handle, the door swung open. Jason jumped back in surprise as Annabeth, Thalia, Nico and Grover came out the door.

"Oh, hey guys," he said. Then he turned to Thalia. "Why did you blow a hole through the roof?"

Thalia smirked and said "We needed to send an Iris message, but there wasn't enough light in there to create a rainbow. So I made a way for light to get in." She beamed proudly.

"Why did you need to send an Iris message?" Reyna asked. "Who did you send it…" she was cut off when the ground started to shake violently and a huge explosion sounded behind her.

**Mixed Pov**

Everyone fell to the ground, making sure to cover their heads. The four that had just come out of the temple were the only ones facing the direction the explosion had come from. The other five slowly turned around to look… and then immediately wished they hadn't.

"The mountain…" Thalia said, speechlessly.

"… It just…" Halley put in.

"Exploded," Jason, Annabeth and Reyna said simultaneously.

"Cool," Leo murmured.

"No, not cool," Piper said, her voice filled with worry. "Look at that." She pointed in the direction of the explosion.

They all turned to see red liquid slowly flowing towards them.

"Lava," Grover muttered in a shaky voice.

"Not good," Nico said.

"We need to get out of here," Jason said. He turned to Thalia. "Do you think that you could...?"

Thalia's face paled. "I'm not sure Jason. I've never tried. Are you sure don't know where Blackjack is Grover?"

When Grover didn't respond she asked again, this time her tone was more worried. "Grover?" Thalia turned to see Grover leaning against the column, looking like he was about to hurl enchiladas.

Annabeth noticed too. "You okay, Grover?"

Grover groaned and shook his head. When he spoke, his words were strained, like it was taking a lot of effort. "This weird feeling... just hit me. I don't know... what... it is... but its... not good."

He groaned again and collapsed to his knees. Annabeth and Thalia both ran to his side.

"Grover!" Annabeth said. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Grover said through clenched teeth. "I... unless..." he stop and winced. His breathing was sharp, and he doubled over in pain.

"Grover!" Thalia called. She looked up at Annabeth. "What do you think it is?"

Annabeth's brow furrowed and she pursued her lips. "I'm not sure. I've never seen him like this; not even after an all you can eat burrito fest. I don't know what it could be. Unless..." she paused and thought harder.

"Unless what?" Thalia urged. "Do you have an idea or something?"

Annabeth nodded grimly. "There's only one reason I can thank of," she said. "Grover and Percy had an empathy link. That must be it." Her bloodshot eyes started brimming with tears again.

"Wait," Reyna said. "An empathy link? But that means..."

"Grover's dying," the Grace siblings both said.

"We can't move him," Annabeth said. "And I'm not going to leave him. Percy wouldn't have, so I won't either."

"Annabeth you have to come," Halley said. "We can't leave you too."

"She's right, Annabeth," Thalia said. "And if you think that for one minute I would leave both you and goatboy to die, then your Athena brains must not be working. If you're staying, then so am I."

"Me too," Jason said. "Can't let you girls be all heroic without me."

"I second that," Leo said.

The others all spoke up, each saying that they would stay.

"The greatest heroes of the century..." Halley muttered, turning to face the quickly approaching flood of lava.

"All died heroically, being burnt to death by lava," Leo said. "Gods, I hate irony."

"You can't do anything against it, can you?" Halley asked him.

"I doubt it," Leo said. "But that doesn't really matter. I just hope that I can die with you guys. It would really stink to not die, and be alone when Porphyrion comes."

"You'd join us soon enough, Leo," Piper said. "If that happened."

"Glad you have faith in my fighting abilities," Leo muttered.

"No one can stop this," Reyna said. "The only thing that beats lava…"

"Is water," Annabeth said.

"Which we unfortunately don't have," Nico said.

Thalia leaned over and whispered to Annabeth "Do you think Poseidon will pull through?"

"I think he would want to," Annabeth responded, "But he'd have to get through Zeus and Hades first."

"That won't be easy," Nico said, having overheard the two girls. "My dad isn't a real big fan of Percy."

"Mine either," Thalia said. She looked up at the lava. "Guess we'll get to see Percy in Elysium."

"I doubt that the Giants will leave Elysium the way it is," Annabeth said. "Who knows what they'll do."

"I'd rather not think about that," Thalia muttered.

Grover moaned again, and said "I'm going to miss you guys. I won't be in Elysium. I'll just wind up being some kind of lonely bush here on the steps… until I get scorched by lava." He coughed and groaned.

"Save your energy, goatboy," Thalia told him. "Leave the sappy goodbye speeches to us."

A weak smile crossed Grover's face. "Right," he said with a cough.

"This is horrible," Annabeth said. "We're all going to die because of me."

"What do you mean, Annabeth?" Thalia asked sharply. "That's insane."

"Oh, really?" Annabeth shot back, raising her eyebrows. "Just think Thalia. I killed Percy, which consequently killed Grover. Then the stupid mountain erupted and the rest of us are going to be burned to death because I killed the one person who could've stopped it."

"That's true," Thalia said thoughtfully. "But we all decided to stay here and die. That's our choice; our fault. Not yours."

Annabeth opened her mouth to argue when all of sudden, a loud roar filled the air. But it wasn't any normal animal roar. No, this sound was the roar of the sea; a very angry sea.

**You guys can probably guess what's going to happen, but I'm not telling just in case you can't =). Like I mentioned earlier, I was crying while I wrote these last two chapters (or reading the parts Kayla wrote).**


	12. Chapter 12

**So I finally got this chapter up! Yay! This is chapter is in honor of Halley's birthday (which is today). Oh, and happy birthday to the reviewer who said her birthday was May 22, also! Sorry I can't remember your name.**

**I figure you guys are about to kill me, but maybe you'll forgive me after this.**

**Chapter 11! Enjoy =)**

Chapter 11: How to Save the World Without a God's Help

Everyone looked up, surprised looks on their faces. No one really understood what was happening… except Annabeth.

"Everyone get to the side," she called out.

They all did what she said. And just in time, because almost as soon as they had all gotten out of the way, the front doors of the Poseidon temple exploded open and a huge wave of water flowed out.

The wave flowed down the steps and met head on with the lava. As soon as the water came in contact with the lava, the lava cooled and stopped moving towards them.

The water kept coming for about a minute, then it suddenly ceased.

The heroes looked to the doorway. Standing there, completely dry, was the one hero that they had thought they would never see alive again.

Percy looked around the group and noticed that all of them had completely shocked looks on their faces.

"Uh, hi, guys," Percy said. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Halley asked. "Percy! You were _dead_! And now…"

"Now you're standing there wondering why were gaping like fish," Thalia said. She and Annabeth were still kneeling beside Grover, who still looked like crap. Annabeth was completely speechless and was staring Percy with an unreadable expression on her face. It could've been shock, but there was something else… relief.

"You're… you're not dead," she said, her voice catching in her throat. She didn't say it like an evil villain would when they discover that their arch-nemesis is still alive. Annabeth said it like she was still processing the fact that Percy… her Percy, was standing in front of her, completely alive.

Percy shook his head slowly. "No, I'm not dead. I don't think I ever was…"

"You were," Nico stated bluntly. "We're pretty sure of that."

Percy looked at him. "But if I was dead, then how am I here now?"

"Um, that's an Annabeth question," Nico responded.

Annabeth slowly stood up at the mention of her name. Her eyes didn't leave Percy as she walked up to him. Looking him straight in the face, Annabeth did something that no one expected, but they did expect it at the same time. She smacked Percy across the face.

"Ow!" Percy said, holding his cheek. "What was that for?"

Annabeth pointed at him. "That's for making me kill you," she said sternly. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. When she backed away, she said "And that's for saving our butts."

Percy looked at her in confusion while the others stood behind them trying not laugh. Halley and Leo broke first, but the others weren't too far behind.

"If only you could see your face, Percy," Halley laughed.

"But I still don't understand," Percy said. "If I died, then how am I here now?"

Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico exchanged glances.

"Well, Percy, ya see, Nico came up with this great idea to ask your dad to bring you back," Thalia explained.

"Whoa, wait," Leo said. "How is he supposed to do that? How _did_ he do that?"

"The gods have been known to make heroes immortal from time to time," Nico said.

"Did you say _immortal_?" Percy asked. He looked from Nico to Thalia to Annabeth. He was about to say something else when Annabeth interrupted him.

"We didn't do this for you Percy," she said. "We didn't do it for us either. We can't Porphyrion without you, and if we can't fight him, then the world is basically gone. At least now we have a fighting chance."

"She's right Percy," Piper said. "We need you to fight."

"What does it matter if I'm here or not?" Percy asked. "I mean, the gods aren't here to help, so how are we supposed to beat Porphyrion?"

They all thought for a second. Percy had a point. Suddenly, Reyna jumped up excitedly. "I get it now!" she shouted.

They all looked at her like she was crazy. "What are you talking about Rey?" Halley asked.

"What my dad told me," Reyna explained. "He said that we couldn't save the world unless my vision came true… unless Percy died."

"I still don't get it," Halley said.

"Think about it Hals," Reyna said. "Percy's _immortal_ now. You know what that means?"

"He's a god," Piper answered, almost in disbelief.

Reyna nodded. "My dad must've known that the gods wouldn't be able to fight with us. He must've known that Percy would be brought back immortal."

"So now we do have a god to fight with us," Leo said. "Too bad that god's Percy." He laughed.

Percy kicked Leo in the leg, which of course only made him laugh more.

"Kidding, kidding," Leo said, holding his hands up defensively.

"So Percy's a god," Jason said, "which means he'll obliviously be fighting Porphyrion…"

"With you," Annabeth stated, interrupting him.

Jason didn't even look surprised. "I expected that," he muttered.

"Porphyrion will be here soon," a voice said from around the corner of the temple. "Are you ready to fight?"

"Who is that?" Piper asked.

Thalia frowned. "That can't be Adria," she said. Glancing between the others, she asked "Can it?"

"No, it is me, Thalia," Adria said, appearing out from behind the corner. "Lady Diana sent me to find you. She thought you might need help."

"Well, we do… I guess," Thalia said.

"Any help is great," Jason said.

Adria nodded. "Well, my first bit of help is suggesting that you rest while you can. All of you, save Percy, look very tired."

They looked out to the see the sun setting over the mountain.

"You're right, Adria," Halley said. "Reyna especially." She looked pointedly at her friend.

Reyna crossed her arms. Without taking her eyes off Halley, she said "Hey, Leo. Why don't you get us a fire started?"

Leo jumped down off the steps and down into the courtyard. He pulled out a few pieces of dry wood from his belt and set them on fire. Then he pulled out some cooking supplies and started on supper.

"You should trust that Porphyrion will be here soon," Adria said as they all settled down around the fire. "And you say you're ready to fight him?"

"Well," Annabeth said "Jason and Percy are going to be the ones that will be doing the main fighting against Porphyrion, and I guess the rest of us will jump in when needed."

"It does make it a little bit difficult only having one god," Piper muttered.

"And since that god's me," Percy muttered. He frowned. "I don't get it. If I'm a god, then why don't I feel like a god? I don't feel any different."

"Great," Nico muttered. "One god that can help us, and he's clueless."

Percy was about to argue, but was interrupted by someone on the temple stairs.

"Not one god! You've got two to help you!"

Everyone looked up in surprise at the temple. Standing there, perfectly healthy, was Grover.

"Grover!" Thalia and Annabeth shouted. They ran up to where he was standing.

"You're alive!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"How?" Thalia asked.

"And what do you mean that you're a god now?" Percy asked.

"Well," Grover said, "I think it has something to do with the empathy link. Since you died and became immortal, the same thing happened to me."

"So, now we have two gods?" Leo asked from his place at the fire.

"It looks like it," Jason said. "Which is probably a good thing."

…

"Leo," Piper said between bites, "I think these tacos are even better than the ones we had in Chicago."

"Yeah," Halley agreed. "These are even better than my grandmas, and she is half-Hispanic."

Grover bit into his enchilada, which was slavered in Halley's grandma's guacamole. "These are great! You should seriously consider a job in Mexican cooking when you get back to the States."

"I might just do that," Leo said, smirking. "But if you guys think these are good, you should've tried my mom's. They were amazing."

Percy nodded. "My mom makes a great nine-layer bean dip, and awesome blue chocolate-chip cookies."

"Yeah, awesome 'till they drive a rail-road spike through your brain," Thalia said, snickering.

"Ha ha," Percy laughed sarcastically. He took another bite out of one of his tacos and turned to Annabeth, ignoring Thalia.

Thalia laughed and the others continued telling stories about their mortal parents and how they cooked.

"My mom's a horrible cook," Halley commented. "I know that my dad didn't fall in love with her for that."

"Probably because she's rich and beautiful," Thalia muttered.

Halley shook her head. "My mom's pretty, but not rich. When my dad met her, she had just gotten out of college. She still had tons of student fees to pay. Besides, what do gods care about the money? I mean, they own everything anyway, so what do they care?"

"Good point," Thalia said. She waded up her napkin and threw it in the fire. Then she reached into her hunter's pack and started to pull out rolled up sleep mats. Adria followed her lead. They passed the mats around and the group settled down to sleep.

"I'll keep watch," Percy volunteered. "I don't really need sleep anyway."

"I'll help," Grover said.

The others agreed and settled down to sleep. Percy and Grover sat looking at the fire for a few minutes. Grover poked it with a stick, making sparks leap out of it.

"So you're immortal too?" Percy asked.

Grover nodded. "I'm pretty sure. It's weird though…"

"What is?"

"The fact that we're immortal," Grover stated. "I mean, you turned down immortality last year, and I'm pretty sure satyrs becoming immortal has never really happened before… at least not like this."

"Hey it's not like we could help it," Percy argued. "I was all for chilling in the Underworld, but apparently the others had different ideas."

"Can you blame them? I mean, without you alive, they're lacking a great fighter. And since Annabeth can't fight without you, that only leaves five, two of which are newbies."

"That's true," Percy muttered. As an afterthought, he asked "Has a satyr ever become immortal before?"

"Not because of an empathy-link, I don't think," Grover answered. "Of course, the only other story I know of this happening was with Hercules and his trainer Phil."

"Phil?"

"Philoctetes," Grover clarified. "He was a satyr."

"I figured that. But I thought Chiron trained Hercules."

"Chiron trained Hercules for the first Giant war. Phil trained him before that."

"Oh, okay." Percy nodded and looked into the fire.

Grover recognized the look on his face and stood up. "I'll go get more firewood," he said and walked off.

Percy continued to watch the fire for a few minutes until he heard someone sigh. He looked up in alarm, and then realized that it was Reyna. She was lying on her back looking up at the sky.

"You should get some sleep," Percy said.

Reyna glanced over at him. "I would, if I could," she responded. "But I can't." She looked at him again. "What time is it Percy?"

Percy frowned and glanced at his watch. "9:30," he answered. "Why do you want to know?"

Reyna shook her head. "No reason. Just wondering."

Percy shifted where he was sitting. "Alley's ghost visited me," he said. "She told me that her prophecy was going to start coming true… or at least the parts about us would."

Suddenly, Percy realized something. "Reyna, it's a new moon."

Reyna looked up at the sky. "You're right," she whispered.

"That means…" Percy didn't even want to think about it.

"Alley's prophecy is coming true," Reyna finished. "It's going to start tonight. No moon means it'll be dark. _The darkest night_. Oh, gods, Percy."

"Rest while you can," Percy said, trying to hide how scared he was. "I know that healing trick you tried to perform wasn't easy. No doubt we'll have a very long fight in a few hours, and you'll need your strength."

"Fine," Reyna grumbled. She lay back down and closed her eyes. Before long, Percy heard her quiet breathing mixed with the others.

Grover hadn't returned yet, so Percy was sitting by himself. The night was quiet, with a gentle breeze blowing through the temples. Percy didn't really want to think about what might happen in the next few hours. He was still trying to piece most of his day together.

The memories of what had happened that day were slowly starting to come back. Percy remembered asking Annabeth to kill him. The entire scene was fresh in his mind. The pain of being stabbed was the worse he had ever felt, even worse than the poison from that demon scratch in the Underworld. After saying his goodbyes, he had died, but it was odd because his spirit didn't go to the Underworld, or to Charon's office. For some reason, it was like he had just been in a deep, dreamless sleep. Then he woke up and exploded the doors of his dad's temple open and saved his friends.

"My life is so messed up," Percy muttered.

…

Piper didn't exactly have the best dream that night. She dreamed back to when her, Leo, and Jason had been at the Wolf House. Jason was fighting Porphyrion.

"I know exactly how to kill you," Porphyrion told Jason.

Piper twitched in her sleep. Jason was going to have to fight Porphyrion with Percy. Percy was safe from getting killed, so obviously Porphyrion was going to focus on trying to eliminate Jason. The scene changed, and Piper saw Jason standing on Porphyrion's shoulder, on what looked to be Mt. Olympus. Before she could even figure out what was happening, the earth started to shake. The ground below Porphyrion cracked open and the Giant fell. Piper felt a scream come to her throat as Porphyrion reached up and grabbed Jason, pulling him into the hole as he fell.

Piper sat straight up, screaming Jason's name. The rest of the group all jumped up, pulling their weapons out as they did.

"Piper?" Annabeth asked. "What's wrong?"

Piper was near the verge of tears. She looked at Jason and proceeded to tell the group about her dream.

Everyone looked at Jason. They couldn't tell because of the dark, but they were pretty sure his face had turned pale as he stared at the faintly glowing embers left from the fire.

"It doesn't matter," Jason muttered, trying to sound confident. "As long as he's defeated, I don't care if I die."

"You're not going to die," Halley said quietly.

The group looked at her. Only Reyna knew what she meant.

"We're not going to let you die," Reyna said. "Just like you better not let any of us die."

Jason smiled faintly. "Sure," he said, "Guess you want us to say the Musketeer motto now, right?"

They laughed. "All for one!" Leo called out, raising his hammer.

The others all raised their various weapons. "And one…"

A sound outside of the commons area.

"What was that?" Thalia asked.

They all stood and turned to face where sound had come from.

"I don't want to find out," Grover said.

Deep, rumbling laughter echoed out of the dark.

"Percy," Reyna whispered. "What time is it?"

Percy pressed the button on his watch that made the backlight come on.

"About a minute till midnight," he responded.

"It's him then," Reyna said. "It's Porphyrion." She turned to the group. "This is where _our_ fight begins. This is _why_ we came here."

Halley leaned over and whispered to Leo. "Apollo is also the god of theater, I think."

Reyna glared at Halley. Then she said "The prophecy will be fulfilled tonight. Win or lose, we have to fight."

"If we're going to lose," Nico said, "Might as well make it a good show."

The ground shook suddenly and they all stumbled.

"He's coming," Piper muttered.

"Hey Leo," Reyna said, "Can we get some light?"

Leo nodded and turned towards one of the temples. Torches hung on the outside of it. Leo pointed at one of the torches and shot flames at it, which caused a chain reaction. One torch would light up, and then the one next to it would. Soon, all the temples were alight. In the middle of the commons a huge brazier lit up.

Halley gasped. The rest of the group looked at her, then to where she was looking. There were a few more gasps from the group as the saw the giant figure standing at the end of the commons.

"So this is the infamous group of heroes?" Porphyrion boomed. "I've eaten better than you."

"He's gotten stronger," Piper whispered. "Jason, how are you going to be able to fight him? He almost killed you last time."

Jason steeled his nerves. Piper was right, but at this point, they had no choice.

"If he knows exactly how to kill you," Halley said, "Maybe we should have someone else fight him besides you, someone he might not know how to kill?"

"He knows how to kill all of us," Annabeth said.

"Yeah," Leo agreed. "All he has to do is step on us."

"Thank you for that lovely reminder," Thalia grumbled.

"Are you going to stand there, or are you going to fight me?" Porphyrion taunted. "You are just prolonging your own deaths."

"He has a point," Nico said.

Everyone turned to Jason and Percy. Once again, they could feel the fate of the world resting on their shoulders.

Jason looked over at Percy. "Ready to fight a giant?" he asked.

"Nope," Percy responded. "So let's go."

They raised their weapons and charged.

**Okay, so the ending isn't as epic as I wanted it to be, but that's okay. I probably won't be able to get the next chapter up soon, just so you know. I have a lot of school work to do since it's close to the end of the year. I doubt I'll get a chapter up in this week. Maybe the week after this, depending on my testing schedule. I can't even say how many more chapters this story will have, though I don't think it will be too many. That doesn't mean that we're close to the end, because they're just now starting to fight Porphyrion.**

**Anyway, review =)**


	13. Chapter 13

**So, first off, I want to apologize for this extremely late update… I finished all of my school work, but then suffered from major writer's block. Of course, you guys probably don't care about that, so let's just get on with the story!**

**Chapter 12! Enjoy =)**

Chapter 12: Fight for the Fate of the World

They charged into battle, Percy and Jason in the lead.

"Come on little heroes!" Porphyrion boomed across the battlefield as he hefted his monstrous spear into the air… "I will eat you for a snack before I start dinner tonight…"

"I've been told that I don't taste the greatest," Percy shouted, "and just to be honest Porphyrion, I'm not too sure that you really want to eat me. We're all family here right?"

"Well technically…" Jason started.

"Shut up, Airhead," Percy muttered.

"Percy!" Annabeth called out. "Try and…

She stopped speaking suddenly. Percy skidded to a stop and turned around to see why. He saw Annabeth, Piper, Leo, Reyna, and Halley were blocked off by a large group of mud giants.

"They'll be fine dude," Jason said. "We've got bigger problems to worry about."

This didn't exactly reassure Percy, but he knew Jason was right. Porphyrion wasn't going to wait forever.

...

The rest of the group had been following Percy and Jason into battle, when their path was suddenly blocked by a group of smaller giants.

"Earthborn!" Piper yelled.

"What?" Halley asked.

"Theyre, uh, more of Gaea's helpers," Leo said, not finding a better explanation.

"The Earthborn were giants that fought the first Jason," Annabeth explained.

"And we fought them when we fought with Encedalus," Piper said. "Then again at the Wolf House."

"How easy are they to kill?" Reyna asked.

Piper and Leo looked at each other. "Theyre not very smart," Piper said, "but strong. And my guess is that they won't stay dead long."

"Great," Halley muttered. Wolf howls behind her sent chills down her spine.

"Uh, guys," Leo muttered. "Our friends from the dam are back."

Annabeth looked back at the werewolves, which were quickly approaching. Reyna and Halley had already drawn their bows and were shooting at them.

"Ok," Annabeth said, "Thalia, Adria, and Reyna; you've got the wolves. The rest of us will take the Earthborn."

"Uh, Annabeth," Piper said, her voice shaking.

Annabeth glanced around at the group. It was only the four of them. Thalia, Adria, Grover, and Nico were still back in front of the Poseidon temple.

"They can't help us, Annabeth," Reyna said, aiming another arrow. She fired it and it hit a werewolf dead between the eyes. The effects weren't exactly pretty.

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked.

"They aren't part of the seven," Reyna stated grimly. "We're on our own."

Annabeth looked back at the other four. She cursed, and then turned to Reyna and Halley. "Guess you two have the wolves then," she said.

"Good," Halley said sternly, firing another arrow. "I have a thing or two I..."

"DUCK!" Leo yelled.

Without even turning to look, the four fell to the ground. Boulders flew over their heads.

"You didn't tell us they threw rocks," Halley muttered.

"They're giants," Reyna said. "Of course they throw rocks."

"Thank you, Miss Obvious," Halley said.

"Everyone know the plan?" Annabeth asked.

"That would be a yes," Leo said.

"Great. Let's go."

…

Jason wasn't really thrilled to be fighting Porphyrion… again. He knew wouldn't have much luck taking him on alone. Even with Percy's help, this fight wasn't going to be easy.

The fight didn't start out to great. When Percy and Jason had gotten within a few yards of the giant's feet, Porphyrion slammed the butt of his spear into the ground, causing the whole mountain to shake. Percy and Jason very heroically stumbled and fell on their butts.

Porphyrion almost doubled over laughing at them. He raised his face to the sky and called out: "So these are the heroes sent to defeat me?" Looking back down at Percy and Jason, he said "You do know that you have to have a god to defeat me, right?"

"Who says we don't?" Jason asked, as confidently as he could.

Porphyrion looked at Percy. "You mean him?"

"No," Percy said. "He means the god flying above your head."

It was an obvious lie, but Porphyrion fell for it. He looked up above his head. When he did, Percy summoned a huge wave that hit the giant in the chest. Porphyrion fell backwards, and the ground shook when he hit the ground.

"Two can play at that game," Percy said to Jason, smirking.

"Yeah, you probably just ticked him off a whole lot more."

Porphyrion started to get back on his feet. "Quick, hit him while he's down!" Jason said.

Percy sprinted towards the fallen giant. Before he could land a blow, however, Porphyrion raised to a standing position.

"Whoa!" Percy exclaimed, skidding to a stop. "Big giant!"

"Percy!" Jason yelled. He had taken to the air, and was above Percy's head. "Grab on!"

Percy raised an eyebrow, and reached up to grab Jason's extended hand. Jason picked him up and practically tossed him through the air.

"Ah!" Percy cried as he flew towards Porphyrion's face. He flipped, and then slashed with Riptide, cutting Porphyrion across the eye. The giant reached out to grab Percy, but Percy managed to dodge his hand by twisting and landing on his shoulder. Jason flew down and grabbed a javelin out of Porphyrion's hair. He stabbed the javelin into the giant's ear. Golden Ichor was pouring from his wounds, but it was obvious that they had only irritated him.

…

"I HATE WEREWOLVES!" Halley shouted as she fired arrow after arrow from her bow.

"I'm right here Hals," Reyna said. "You don't have to shout."

Halley grumbled something inaudible. "I wish I could use a sword," she muttered.

It just so happened that she was close enough to where Adria was standing that Adria heard her. An idea floated through Neptune's daughter's mind. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a slender silver rod. The rod was about as thick around as a glow-stick necklace and about as long as a pencil.

When Adria gripped the rod in her hand, it glowed with faint silver light and grew in length until it was a beautiful silver trident.

"Halley!" Adria shouted. "Catch!" She tossed the trident through the air.

Halley looked up at Adria confused. When Adria tossed the trident at her, Halley didn't know what to think. She knew how to use a trident; it had been part of their basic training back at camp. Only thing was tridents were one of the few weapons Halley wasn't good with. So when Adria threw a trident at her, she didn't know what to think. Halley caught it anyway.

"What does she expect me to do with this?" Halley asked Reyna, who started to shrug in reply. But before she could, the trident shimmered with a silver light again and transformed into a beautiful silver _gladius_, or a Roman sword.

"Whoa," Reyna said, her eyes wide.

"Nice," Halley said smiling. She turned back to face the werewolves.

"Can you fight now?" Reyna asked in a smart elec tone.

Halley glanced at her friend as she charged into battle. Reyna could see the smirk on her face.

"I'm always ready to fight," Halley said. She swung the sword at the nearest werewolf. It disintegrated as the sword passed through it.

Reyna changed her bow back into a necklace and then whipped out her knives. With a back-flip, she launched herself into the midst of the wolves.

…

Between ducking flying boulders and the occasional werewolf, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo had their work cut out for them. Piper was doing her best to charm the Earthborn, while Leo was fiddling with some things he pulled out of his tool belt. Annabeth was trying to come up with a plan to get past the Earthborn and to where Jason and Percy were fighting. Currently, that plan wasn't pulling through to well.

"I can't find a way past them!" she growled in aggravation.

Piper glanced at her then turned back to the Earthborn.

"You know what would be awesome?" she asked them, "If you guys moved out of our way and let us get by. So why don't you do that?"

"Not listen to pretty girl talk," one of the Earthborn said.

"What about robot talk?" Leo shouted.

Annabeth had just enough time to turn and look before an automaton flew past her head and plowed into the closest Earthborn. She didn't have time to register what it was, just that when it hit the Earthborn, the thing crumpled to a pile of clay. Then the automaton changed direction and continued to attack other giants.

"Leo you're a genius!" Piper yelled.

Leo beamed and Annabeth turned to where Halley and Reyna were still working on the last few werewolves.

"You guys coming?" she asked.

Halley glanced up and stabbed a werewolf at the same moment. "Reyna," she called. "Come on, while they have the path open."

The two girls took off after Annabeth. Piper and Leo were already on their way to Percy and Jason. The group made it past the remaining Earthborn without a problem. It wasn't until they got past the Earthborn that another problem came up. _Venti _blew in from all sides, in circling the group and splitting them apart.

A _venti_ blew past Halley, knocking her to the ground. She face planted in a huge mud puddle, courtesy of Percy.

"Ugh," Halley groaned, slowly pushing herself off the ground. She looked up and caught sight of Jason.

He was standing with his back towards her. He was looking at something in the distance, not seeing what was behind him. But Halley did. She saw Porphyrion getting back on his feet, raising his weapon to deliver a fatal blow.

"Jason," Halley whispered as she connected what was happening. It clicked and Halley leaped into the air. "JASON!" she cried out as she propelled herself towards him.

Jason turned just as Halley reached him... which happened to be the exact moment Porphyrion swung.

Halley pushed Jason out of the way and Porphyrion's blow caught Halley right in the stomach. She was thrown to the side like a rag doll.

"HALLEY!" Jason and Reyna screamed.

**So I know this chapter is short, but I decided to stop it there because I really hated writing this chapter. It's very awkward and jumps around a lot. If you guys wouldn't mind sending me ideas, I would greatly appreciate them. I have great plans for the ending, but unfortunately, I still have a couple of big fight scenes to right before that.**

**Anyway, review and send ideas! Thanks! =)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Well, this chapter either came up faster than I expected, or it took longer than expected… I still haven't figured out which. Either way, I'm glad I got this up, since it might take a while to post the next chapter. See, I'm on vacation currently, and when I get home, I have to turn right around and go to a volleyball camp. So I don't know when I'll be able to post the next chapter… even if I do get it written.**

**Anyway, here's chapter 13! Enjoy =)**

Chapter 13: The Curse is Lifted

"No!" Leo shouted. He took off in the direction Halley had landed, but Annabeth and Piper held him back.

"Don't Leo!" Piper called forcibly.

"Let me go!" he shouted angrily.

"Leo! Chill! Reyna and Jason are already on their way to her. It'll be okay." Annabeth was trying to keep her voice calm, but this chilly feeling was creeping down her spine. Something big had or was about to happen. One look at Piper said the same about her. Leo was obviously not feeling it... either that or he was too distraught to notice.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew across the mountaintop. It was accompanied by a soft, eerie whisper... one that sounded strangely like Rachel's prophecy voice. Everyone on the mountain, even Porphyrion and Percy, who had been locked in an intense fight, froze where they stood as the voice spoke a line familiar to all of them.

"_An oath to keep with a final breath_," the voice said.

"Oh gods," Piper whispered. She looked over to where Halley was lying, still completely motionless. Reyna and Jason hadn't reached her yet, since they had frozen with the others.

Leo was the only one out of the group that didn't seem to be in a trance. Even Porphyrion had a dazed look in his marble-like eyes. Leo heated his arms just enough to make Piper and Annabeth let go of him, and then he took off running to Halley. He sprinted past Reyna and Jason, both still dazed. Leo heard Piper and Annabeth yelling at him, but he didn't really comprehend to what they were saying.

"Halley!" he yelled. He reached her and dropped to his knees. "Halley?"

Leo looked down at Halley's lifeless body. She had apparently landed on her back and had cracked her head which consequently knocked her unconscious. A huge cut ran down her left cheek, sticky red blood running down into her hair. Leo pulled a clean cloth out of his tool belt and wet it with water from his water bottle. Then he gently washed her face off. Halley didn't stir.

"Come on Fly Girl," Leo muttered, his voice filled with worry. "Wake up."

Slowly, the sound of fighting filled Leo's ears. Porphyrion must have come out of his daze. He heard multiple taunts and curses from Percy, orders from Annabeth, blended with the occasional charm from Piper. Then Leo heard footsteps walking up behind him. Reyna and Jason, no doubt. Leo felt a hand touch his shoulder, but he didn't need to look up to know who it was.

Reyna knelt down on Halley's other side and started examining her injuries. "You idiot," she whispered to her unconscious friend.

"She saved my life," Jason muttered.

"Is she..." Leo tried hard not to choke on his words. "Is she going to be okay?"

Reyna didn't respond. She pursed her lips and frowned.

"Is she?" Leo asked a little more forcibly.

Reyna sighed. "I don't know, Leo. I can't tell how bad her injuries are with her unconscious."

"How do we wake her up?"

Again Reyna paused before answering. "Well, we could wave Jason's sock in front of her face. Strong smells tend to wake people up."

Reyna said this with a completely straight face, so it took Jason a second to catch on to the insult.

"Hey!" he responded indignantly.

Reyna waved him of dismissively. "It was a joke Airhead. Anyway, I have something that should work more effectively than your sock." she dug around in her med bag for a second then pulled out an ammonia stick. She waved it a few inches in front of Halley's nose, but it didn't seem to have any effect on her.

Reyna uttered a few swear words. "Dangit Hals! Wake up!"

"Jason!" Piper called from the battlefield. "We need help!"

Jason frowned then patted Leo's shoulder. "It'll be okay bro," he said before running back towards the fight.

"He doesn't know that," Leo muttered.

Reyna looked up at him. "She's still breathing, Leo."

Leo frowned then leaned his head closer to Halley's. He felt a very faint breath cross his cheek.

"Why won't she wake up?" he asked Reyna.

The daughter of Apollo didn't respond. Leo could tell that she was as worried and scared as he was.

What Leo did next surprised Reyna; he kissed Halley very softly. It was one of those gentle lingering kisses. Reyna kept her mouth shut, mostly because she didn't want to interrupt their moment.

Suddenly, Halley's eyes flew open. She pushed Leo off of her and took in a sharp breath.

"Halley?" Reyna asked.

"Oh my gods, Leo," Halley said in a raspy voice. "What was that for?"

Leo didn't answer. Instead, he just sat there looking at Halley in amazement.

"Are you going to answer?" Halley asked. She started to laugh, but her face turned green and she took another sharp breath.

"You okay, Hals?" Reyna asked.

"No," Halley groaned.

"Leo! Get your butt over here!" Annabeth yelled.

"They need your help Leo," Reyna said.

"I don't want to leave you," Leo whispered to Halley.

"Go," Halley said. "They need you. I'll be fine."

Leo frowned but got up and left. Halley watched him leave until a sharp pain shot through her body.

"Gods, Reyna!" she said through clenched teeth."Don't do that!"

"Broken ribs," Reyna muttered. She shook her head. "You can't fight."

Halley gave a half-hearted laugh then grimaced with pain. "That's funny," she said. "I thought you just said that I can't fight."

She tried to sit up, got about half-way before she paled drastically and collapsed to the ground.

"I did," Reyna replied sternly. "Halley, you can't even sit up. How do you expect to be able to fight?"

"I have to fight, Rey," Halley said. "You know I do."

"Then I'm going to have to heal you."

"No, you're not. If you do that, then you'll be too weak to fight."

Reyna sat back and sighed. "Well then what do we do Hals? You can't fight if I don't heal you, but if I heal you then I can't fight."

"Do we have any other options?" Halley asked. "We both need to be able to fight…"

"Maybe we can help," a girl's voice said from behind them.

Reyna turned to see who it was. It was Thalia who had spoken, followed by Adria, Nico, and Grover. Thalia grabbed Reyna's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"You're with me, Sunny," she said. "Grover will take care of Halley."

"Wait. What are you talking about Thalia?" Reyna asked.

"I'm joining the fight," Thalia stated plainly.

"How do you plan to do that?"

"Well, we believe that Thalia can fight as a sort of substitute," Adria explained.

"A substitute?" Reyna asked Thalia.

Thalia nodded. "Sort of like in sports…"

"Okay, I get it," Reyna said, raising her hand to stop Thalia from talking. "Let's just get going."

She glanced to where the others were fighting Porphyrion. Things weren't looking too good. Jason, Percy, and Leo were busy doing the main fighting. Annabeth was busy yelling strategies at the three of them, and Piper was alternating between making sure the guys followed Annabeth's orders and trying to charm Porphyrion into doing something stupid to give them an advantage.

Thalia nodded again and the two of them took off towards the fight.

…

"Leo! Watch the flame-throwing!" Piper managed to jump out of the way just in time to dodge a fireball being accidently thrown in her direction.

"Well if you weren't standing in my line of fire, you wouldn't have to worry!" Leo yelled back at her. He ducked as Porphyrion swung his weapon at him.

"Can you just go ahead and die?" Leo called up to the giant.

"I second that!" Percy yelled from the other side of Porphyrion.

He summoned another wave to roll through, once again tripping Porphyrion and knocking him to the ground. The giant almost landed on Annabeth, but Jason flew in and saved her.

"Jason, we're going to have to open up the mountain and trap Porphyrion underneath it!" Annabeth told him.

"How will that work? Gaea will just raise him back up! We'll have to banish him to Tartarus," Jason replied.

Annabeth covered her eyes with her hand, clearly frustrated. Suddenly, she looked up at Jason, her face lighting up. "Nico," she breathed. "He should be able to open up a path to Tartarus."

"But he's not part of the seven," Jason argued.

"Not the original seven," Annabeth agreed, catching sight of Thalia and Reyna running into battle together. "But perhaps we can use him as a substitute for Percy…"

"… Since Percy isn't technically a half-blood anymore," Jason finished, catching onto what Annabeth was saying.

"Exactly," Annabeth stated.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light next to Annabeth and Jason. They shielded their eyes so they wouldn't be blinded. When the light subsided, the first thing they noticed was that Porphyrion and the battle were frozen. The other heroes that had been fighting weren't frozen, but they were almost moving in that "Kronos-frozen-in-time" way. Annabeth and Jason turned to face the direction the flash had come from.

"Oh…" Annabeth started.

"…My…" Jason breathed.

"…Gods," they both finished.

They had a reason to be speechless. Standing in front of them was someone that neither had ever met, but they both recognized her all the same.

"R-Rhea?" Annabeth asked cautiously.

"Indeed, young hero," the Titaness responded.

"What are you doing here?" Jason asked. "Uh, ma'am."

A faint smiled played on Rhea's lips. "You don't know what to think of me, do you heroes?"

Both Annabeth and Jason shook their heads.

"I figure you wouldn't," Rhea said. "But you must listen to me. Be cautious when you prepare to land your final blows against the giant. If you release too much energy, then my mother will surely rise. That is what she is hoping for."

"Do you mean that she wants us to defeat Porphyrion?" Annabeth asked.

"If you have to. She would prefer that Porphyrion defeat you, but if it comes to the point where he cannot, she hopes that when you do defeat him, you will release enough energy for her to rise."

Jason and Annabeth exchanged glances. They were both thinking the same thing: how do they defeat the giant without releasing too much energy. Jason voiced this question to Rhea.

The Titaness sighed. "You were planning on having the son of Hades open a path to Tartarus and banishing Porphyrion to the pit, correct? As good of a plan as that is, I'm afraid that it would release the energy Gaea needs to rise…" Annabeth's and Jason's faces fell, and Rhea quickly continued: "However, if you could manage to trap Porphyrion elsewhere, you might stand a chance of conserving your energy."

"Trap him? Where?" Annabeth asked.

Another smile crossed Rhea's lips. "Think, dear Annabeth. Where were the giants trapped in the first Giant War?"

Annabeth thought for a second. "Underneath mountains," she responded.

"Exactly," Rhea said.

"But won't Gaea just raise him back up?" Jason asked.

"I can't say what my mother will and will not do," Rhea said mournfully, her smile faded. "But I can say that the rest of her children failed her, and Porphyrion is her last child standing. If he fails to defeat you, and you trap him without waking Gaea, I doubt she will raise him again, since he failed."

Rhea looked at the expressions of Annabeth and Jason before continuing: "Now, dear heroes, I must leave you. I cannot keep the time frozen any longer."

Jason and Annabeth glanced around and realized she was right. Slowly, the battle around them was coming back to life.

"Jason," Rhea said, "They will need your help."

Jason nodded grimly, looking at Annabeth before he ran off to the fight. When he reached the time barrier Rhea had created, he seemed to slow down, as if he was moving through Jell-O.

Rhea turned to Annabeth.

"Ma'am, something tells me you didn't come here to only warn us about how to defeat Porphyrion," Annabeth said shakily.

Rhea frowned. "Sadly my dear, you are correct," she said with a sigh. Her eyes shifted to where Percy was standing.

"What is it then?" Annabeth asked.

"Tell me what you see when you look at Percy," Rhea stated plainly.

Annabeth was taken aback by the statement, but she looked at Percy, trying to understand what Rhea meant.

"Do you see his aura?" Rhea asked.

Annabeth nodded when she noticed the faint green-blue aura surrounding her boyfriend.

"Notice anything… different about it compared to the other immortal auras you have seen?"

Annabeth frowned, still not sure what Rhea was getting at. She focused on the aura, trying to see what the Titaness might mean. That's when she realized it, when Percy moved around to where is back was facing her.

"The aura covers everything except the small of his back," Annabeth said.

"He isn't completely immortal, Annabeth," Rhea said. "So he can't be the god you need to defeat Porphyrion."

"But..." Annabeth had trouble forming words. "How..."

"You are the only one that can allow him to become fully immortal," Rhea said firmly. "You have to release him."

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth asked. She had an idea of what the Titaness was talking about, but she didn't want think that she could be right.

"Annabeth," Rhea said, her tone softening, "when you asked the gods to make Percy immortal, you didn't ask with your heart. You have to release Percy with your heart to make him immortal."

"M-my heart?" Annabeth asked timidly. "You... you mean I have to break up with him?"

"Goodness no child!" Rhea said. "You just have to make your heart be okay with Percy being immortal and what that means as much as your brain is."

Annabeth nodded, finally starting to see what rhea meant. "So... what do I do?" she asked.

"You just have to tell him that you release him," Rhea instructed. "But be warned: Percy is the first hero in history to ever lose his mark of Achilles. It is unknown of how it will affect him. Or how it will affect you, for that matter."

"Me?" Annabeth asked.

Rhea nodded. "You are what holds Percy to the mortal world. When he swam in the Styx, he saw you. His physical weakness is the small of his back, but that is only physical... skin deep, if you will."

Annabeth considered this. For some reason, this news didn't surprise like it should have.

"Soo, if I'm Percy's Achilles heel..." Annabeth didn't really know where she was going with that statement.

"The hero is broken when his heel is," Rhea stated. "Luke's heel was the promise he made to you, the one about being there for you. When you reminded him that he had broken his promise..."

"I get it," Annabeth said. "Luke died because of that. But will the same happen to Percy?"

Rhea shook her head. "No dear. Or at least… it shouldn't. But you need to hurry."

Annabeth followed Rhea's gaze to where the heroes were fighting Porphyrion, but from the looks of things, they were mostly trying to get their butts kicked with minimal damage.

"They're falling behind," Rhea stated. "Go Annabeth."

"But..."

"You will know what to say to Percy," Rhea reassured her.

Annabeth nodded then turned her back towards Rhea, running head on into the fight.

"Good luck, Heroes," Rhea whispered before she flashed out.

...

Annabeth ran up to Percy, who had just been knocked aside by Porphyrion. She helped him to his feet.

"What did Rhea want with you?" Percy asked. "Jason told about what she said to both of you, but you stayed too long to still be talking about that."

Annabeth reached out and hugged Percy, much to his surprise.

"Annabeth? What... what are you doing?" he asked, a hint of a laugh in his voice.

Annabeth didn't respond immediately. She sent up a silent prayer to her mother, asking her to let her know the right words to say, and quick.

"Percy," she whispered, "I have to let you go."

"What?" Percy asked. He pulled away just enough to see her face. "What are you talking about?"

"Rhea said that you weren't fully immortal yet," Annabeth explained.

She was struggling to stay calm. For some reason, everything inside of her was rebelling and she didn't understand why. The same feeling she had had when Percy had told her where his spot was had now swept through her body. Annabeth didn't know what to do. She felt that if she "released Percy" as rhea had put it, then she would lose a part of him; that they would lose a part of each other.

Percy didn't say anything for awhile. He got this far away look in his eyes, like he was thinking about something else. Finally, he turned back to Annabeth and asked "but what does that have to do with letting me go?"

"It's the only way to make you completely immortal," Annabeth said. "It's the only way to beat Porphyrion." She paused before adding "you still have the mark of Achilles. That's the one place where you are still mortal..."

"...because it's what held me to the mortal world when I swam in the Styx," Percy muttered. "So I didn't lose it when you stabbed me?"

Annabeth shook her head. They were getting nowhere with this, and fight wasn't getting any easier for the others. "Percy, I have to release you," she said a little more forcibly this time.

"The others need your help, and we don't have enough time for me to explain anymore."

Percy looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn't get the chance. Thunder clashed overhead, and lightning shot across the sky. Annabeth knew that they were running out of time. Thalia or Jason one (probably both) were resorting to big stunts, something they most likely wouldn't have done unless they had ran out of options.

Annabeth pulled back from Percy, letting her arms fall. She could feel whatever connection they had from this start to break. She didn't want it too. She didn't want to lose any connection she had with Percy. But Annabeth knew that she had to break it. Once the connection was broken, the curse would be too.

Apparently, Percy felt it breaking too, because he got a confused look on his face.

"Wha..."

"You free now, Percy," Annabeth said firmly, stepping backwards. "You no longer bear the curse of Achilles."

She took one more step back. Percy looked at her, still confused, but there was something else there too... hurt. Annabeth had just enough time to think _Oh gods; he thinks I've broken up with him. _

But she didn't have enough time to clarify this, because before either of them could say anything, a blinding flash of green-blue light engulfed Percy. Annabeth turned her head, and she knew that the others on the field would also. The wind that blew by smelled suspiciously of sea salt. Annabeth sensed the light die away. She turned around slowly, and tried to keep her jaw from dropping when she looked to where Percy had been standing.

"Wow," Thalia muttered, startling Annabeth. She hadn't heard her walk up. "Is that... Percy?"

Annabeth didn't answer. Instead, she just stared at Percy... or at least the guy standing where Percy had stood a moment ago. It was Percy, but not Percy.

Percy's armor looked brand new, like it had never seen a day's battle. In his hand, Riptide shown brighter than Annabeth had ever seen it. From where Annabeth and Thalia stood, they couldn't see Percy's face, but they could feel the aura he gave off: confident and strong. Apparently, Jason and the others felt it too, because they stood up taller and the worn down looks that had been on their faces only a few seconds ago had vanished. But perhaps the most bizarre thing about Percy was the fact that he had grown taller... like gods-on-Olympus-size taller.

Percy stood in front of Porphyrion, not a hint of weakness showing on him. Even though Porphyrion still towered over Percy by at least thirty feet, Percy stood there like he was ready to kick giant butt.

Porphyrion found this amusing.

"So," he bellowed, "a god has finally decided to appear!" he leaned down closer to Percy. "Who are you?"

"I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. I've traveled to Hades and back three times. I've sailed the Sea of Monsters and fought the Cyclopes Polyphemus. I've battled the titan Atlas and bared his curse. I fought the titan lord Kronos and made the choice to save Olympus. And now Porphyrion, me and Jason are going to crush you like a gnat."

**Sooo, how was it? Did I do okay with the whole "losing the curse thing"? I think I did pretty good, and a lot of people would say that's all that matters, but I like hearing what my reviewers have to say, so tell me! :) *hint-hint***


	15. Chapter 15

**So here's my next chapter. Another great one I believe. :)**

**Chapter 14! Enjoy =)**

Chapter 14: It's All Over… Or Not

**Jason**

Jason stood there, staring at Percy the god, beside Leo, Reyna, and Piper.

"And I thought angry giant Hera was scary," Leo muttered. Piper smacked him in response. "Ow! Hey! I need that arm!" Leo grumbled.

Reyna shoved Jason forward when Percy mentioned his name.

"You're the hero, Grace" she hissed. "So get your heroic butt into gear."

Jason wanted to turn and glare at Reyna, but he knew he didn't have the time to. Reyna was right, as usual. Everyone was looking up to him to be the "saving Grace"... a role he knew all too well. He glanced at Piper, who gave him a reassuring smile.

"Go kick some butt, Sparky," she said.

Leo snickered beside her. "Yeah, kick some for me too, bro."

Jason nodded and ran up beside Percy, trying to ignore the fact that Percy was now a giant himself.

_We're going to have to hit him at the same time_, he heard Percy say in his mind.

Needless to say, the fact that Percy could do that freaked Jason out. Sure, he knew that the gods could do it, which he was okay with. He was even okay with Halley being able to communicate to his mind after he got over the first initial shock of it. But Percy doing it? Jason didn't quite have a word to describe that.

_Okay,_ Jason thought, hoping Percy could read his mind as well as send thoughts. _What do you have in mind?_

_We have to trap him underneath the mountain,_ Percy said. _You will have to send a bolt of lightning through him at the same time I open the mountain below him._

Jason nodded, understanding Percy's plan. With one glance up at Percy, he jumped into the air and landed on Porphyrion's shoulder.

"Hey Big Ugly!" Jason yelled into the ear he had stabbed earlier. "I'm back!"

Porphyrion growled and tried to grab Jason, but he didn't succeed. Jason was doing his best to keep him occupied without getting captured. He scanned Porphyrion's dreads for a golden javelin, and finally found one. Jason yanked the weapon out of the giant's hair.

_You ready?_ Percy's voice sounded in Jason's mind.

_Whenever you are,_ Jason thought back.

Percy didn't respond. Instead, he looked up at Porphyrion. "Time's up, Porphyrion!" he shouted. He raised his foot and slammed it back to the ground, causing the mountain to rumble.

Jason took this as his cue. He raised the javelin so it was directly vertical. One end pointed to the sky, the other to Porphyrion's head, above which Jason now floated.

There was a faint rumble above and below Porphyrion. The earth and sky, both rumbling in anticipation. The air stood still, as if the entire mountain was holding its breath.

Then a giant bolt of lightning, one of the largest Jason had ever summoned on his own, crashed down from the sky. Jason had a split second to land and drive the javelin into Porphyrion's skull before the lightning hit it. The sudden blast of electricity was enough to have knocked Jason free, but he held on till the surge had passed through. The cries of Porphyrion echoed across the mountain stop, shaking the surface.

This didn't help when a crack formed underneath him. The crack had initially been formed by the earthquake Percy had caused, and was only added to as the Jason's lightning channeled through the giant and straight to the ground. Soon, the crack split wide open; big enough for even Porphyrion to fall into. Percy and the others had to jump clear of it, but Jason was too dazed to move away fast enough. He tried to jump clear of Porphyrion as the giant sank into the mountain, and would've succeeded to, if not for the weapons tied into Porphyrion's hair. As the giant fell, his hair flew up above his head. Jason fought to not get caught up in the dreads, but as he struggled, a stray weapon... something heavy, caught Jason in the side of the head, knocking him unconscious.

**Thalia**

Thalia was the one that realized how much trouble Jason was in. right as she heard Piper scream her brother's name, Thalia took off running. She ran up a dislodged rock, using it as a ramp and launched herself into the air. She caught Jason right before he could fall into the dark hole of the mountain and kept him aloft. His eyes were closed and he hung limply in her arms as she struggled to keep them both in the air.

Below them, Porphyrion sunk deep into the heart of Mount Olympus. As he disappeared, the hole closed, hopefully locking him in for another few million years.

The group on the ground stood the in silence, not really sure what to say. A slight drizzle fell from the sky; a result from Jason's lightning bolt.

Thalia looked down at Jason's motionless body in her arms. She focused on that, and not the fact that she was about thirty feet in the air. Jason had a good size knot forming on his head, but it wasn't bleeding, so that was a good sign. He was breathing normally.

"Thalia!" Annabeth called from the ground. Thalia didn't turn to look. "Thalia you're flying!" Annabeth finished.

"I realized that!" Thalia called down. "Now how do I get down?"

The others laughed at her then turned to look at each other. Well actually, they turned to look at Percy, who had shrunk down to normal size.

Percy glanced at all of them, not exactly sure how to take all the attention. "Uh… what are you guys looking at?" he asked.

No one answered immediately. It wasn't that they didn't want to… it's just that they didn't really know how to. Percy was a god now… like, a _full_ god. What were they supposed to say to him?

Percy apparently figured out why they were hesitating. He stepped forward and said "guys, I'm still me. I mean... there's nothing different, except... well..."

"Dude, you're a god now," Leo said.

Percy looked at him. "So?" he asked. "I'm a god. But I'm no different than what I was when I was just... just Percy."

Annabeth stepped towards him. The two looked at each other, their eyes meeting. Piper yanked Leo's and Reyna's arms, pulling them back.

"Let's give them some space," she whispered. "Besides, we need to help Thalia land."

At that moment, they heard a crash as the Graces made a not-so-graceful landing.

"Or we could go make sure their okay," Reyna said, trying not to laugh.

**...**

As the others walked off, Percy looked at Annabeth, trying to read her expression. But it was hopeless. Even with his new godly abilities, Annabeth was still impossible to read. Percy guessed that was why he had fallen in love with her. But now... he didn't understand what had happened. He just knew that something between them... some bond they had shared... was gone. And he wanted to know why.

"What happened, Annabeth?" Percy asked her.

Annabeth looked at Percy, taking in the details about him. Now that he had shrunk back to his regular size, there wasn't really anything huge that stood out... nothing that really said "HEY! THIS GUY'S A GOD!"

But there was that little something. Percy seemed to glow... actually he did glow, very faintly. Like the way the Hunters did. His skin seemed to have more color to it; his sea green eyes had more of spark.

Annabeth was distracted and didn't realize Percy had asked a question until he snapped his fingers under her nose.

"Huh? What?" she asked, shaking her head.

Percy frowned. "Did you not hear my question? I asked what happened. I mean... what was the whole 'releasing me thing' about? And what do you mean by that?"

Annabeth sighed. The fight was over, and they were standing out in rain. She was soaked through, but Percy (as usual) was completely dry.

"Percy," she started, "I don't really know how to explain it... except that I had been the only thing preventing you from being fully immortal."

Annabeth told him everything. She rambled on and on until Percy finally had to put his hand over her mouth. With a smile, he said "I get it. You did it for the rest of the world. But now it's over with..."

"And you're immortal," Annabeth interrupted. "You know what that means? Percy... when we get back home, you'll have to leave."

"But I'll come visit," Percy said insistently. "We... this doesn't mean..."

Now it was Annabeth's turn to but her hand across Percy's mouth.

"They won't allow it," she said sadly. "You're a god now. I'm still a half-blood. Gods can't interfere with the lives of half-bloods. It's one of the most ancient rules."

Percy took Annabeth's hands in his. "We'll figure something out," he said. "I mean, we've been in tougher situations. Maybe I can get a job at camp. Teach sword fighting or something like that."

Annabeth smiled. She stepped closer to Percy and hugged him. "I don't want to lose you again," she murmured. "Just the past year has been enough. Add in the years before that... well; let's just say that I've lost you one too many times."

"You don't get lost as easy as I do," Percy told Annabeth, "but I feel better when I know you're fighting beside me."

**...**

When they reached Thalia and Jason, Piper, Reyna, and Leo started laughing even harder than they had been before.

Thalia groaned as she sat up. "Now you know why I don't fly," she muttered.

Reyna helped her up. "You did good, Thalia. You saved Jason. That's all that matters."

Another groan sounded a little ways off. The two girls turned to see Jason sitting up groggily, rubbing the knot on his head.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You almost died, is what happened," Piper scolded. She crouched down next to him. "If Thalia hadn't jumped to save you..."

"Thalia saved me?" Jason asked.

Piper nodded. "She did great. Apparently, her care for her little brother outweighs her fear of heights."

Jason looked up to where Thalia stood. "Thanks, Sis," he said.

Thalia smirked. "Yeah well... that's two times in one night you almost got killed and someone had to save your sorry butt. Try not to make a habit of it, 'k Jas?"

As if on cue, Halley walked up to the group. Other than the cut on her cheek, she looked fine... not at all like she'd been bulldozed by a giant. Grover, Adria, and Nico trailed behind her.

"She's right Jason," Halley said. "I'm not going to save your butt again. Besides, it's bad publicity when the Saving Grace needs saving."

For some reason, this seemed to strike the rest of the group as funny. They all cracked up. Even Jason laughed at the insult.

They laughed for a while. Percy and Annabeth walked over, wondering what they were missing. As the laughter died down, Reyna turned to Halley.

"It wasn't you?" she asked.

Halley frowned. "What are you talking about Rey?"

"The prophecy line," Reyna clarified. "You didn't hear the voice, but after you were hit, an eerie wind blew through, and with a creepy voice recited a line from the Great Prophecy."

"The one about the oath," Halley guessed.

The others in the group nodded.

Halley sighed and sat down on a rock. "No, it wasn't me," she said. "I was the one that kept the oath, but the whole 'final breath' deal? Not me."

"Then who?" Piper asked. A few others agreed with her.

Halley looked up at Reyna. The daughter of Apollo had a thoughtful look on her face.

"It was Dakota, wasn't it?" Reyna asked.

"Wait," Jason said, before Halley answered. "Dakota? How could it be Dakota?"

Halley looked at Jason. She took a breath then said "Dakota made me promise to keep you safe. It was his dying wish. His…"

"His final breath," Jason said.

Halley nodded.

"So the prophecy didn't mean that someone was going to die keeping an oath," Annabeth stated.

"It just meant that an oath that was made with a final breath would be kept," Thalia agreed.

"Well, glad that's all sorted out," Nico said. "But there's still a lot to the prophecy that hasn't been figured out yet."

"And, sadly, it's the worst two lines," Leo muttered.

No one responded. They were all thinking about what the two lines could mean. The world falling and Doors of Death didn't sound very promising.

"You should not dwell on what you do not know," Adria scolded after a few minutes of silence. "They prophecy will become clear only when it wants to."

The group looked around at each other. She was right of course. They were too worried about what might happen that they couldn't focus on what had happened.

"So… what do we do now?" Leo asked no one in particular.

"Well, Porphyrion's gone," Percy said, "so I don't see any reason in sticking around on this mountain."

"We should at least wait until morning," Piper argued. "There's no way we can find our way down the mountain in the dark, and the _Argo II _is still in Athens."

"Crap," Leo muttered. "It is, isn't it?"

"Does that mean we have to walk to Athens?" Grover asked.

"Maybe we could contact the gods," Thalia suggested. "Get them to send some transportation."

"Or we could just send Jason, Percy, and Leo to get the _Argo II_, and have them come back to get us," Annabeth said.

"That works," Reyna said. "Percy and Leo can ride Blackjack." She turned to Jason. "Will you be ready to fly to Athens by morning?"

Jason nodded. "I think so. I just need to eat and get some rest. That lightning bolt took a lot out of me."

"Well, it was a big bolt," Halley said. "I could fly with you if you want, just to make sure you get there safely." She glanced slyly at Thalia. "Unless, of course, your sister wants to go instead."

"Oh no!" Thalia exclaimed, putting her hands up. "I've had enough flying for a while."

…

After everyone had settled down for the rest of the night, Reyna was still awake. Adria had current watch, but she was softly pacing around the edge of the commons area, where the group had retreated back too rest. They had all come to the same conclusion that they felt safer within the area with the temples to their parents.

Reyna stood up and walked to the front of Apollo's temple. Since they were on Mount Olympus, it was Greek temple to Apollo's Greek form. It was true that Apollo had changed the least out of the gods when they moved from Greece to Rome, but he had changed some. One of the biggest changes was his adaptation to being the sun god.

Reyna looked up at his temple and sighed. The reason she couldn't sleep was because she had this nagging feeling that they were missing a crucial detail… something that could mean life or death for them. Averting her eyes from her father's temple, Reyna looked up at the stars. Without a moon, it was impossible to tell what time it was. Obviously, it was early morning. Reyna frowned and walked back to the rest of the group.

Adria passed by on one of her rounds and noticed that Reyna was still awake.

"You should really try and sleep, Reyna," she said.

Reyna sighed. "I wish I could, Adria, but I just… I just have this feeling that we're missing something."

Adria frowned. "What do you mean?"

Reyna shook her head. "I just feel that maybe we're over looking something. Like there's some detail we missed in the prophecy or something like that."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Adria said softly. "I'm sure it's nothing major."

Reyna wasn't too sure, but she nodded anyway. "Thanks Adria." With a yawn, she added "I think I'll take your advice and try to get some sleep. Will you be okay by yourself?"

Adria smirked. "Of course I will. Remember Reyna, I have been doing this much longer than you."

With that, Adria walked of, continuing her rounds.

Reyna tried to fall asleep, but found that she still couldn't. Adria had seemed so sure that they weren't in any danger, but Reyna knew better. Beside her, Jason stirred and sat up groggily. He blinked a few times then looked at Reyna.

"Reyna?" he asked. "What… what are you doing awake?"

"Couldn't sleep," Reyna replied. "You?"

"Dreams," Jason muttered. "Not exactly bad, but I don't think it's terribly great either."

Reyna nodded. She knew what he meant.

"Care to tell me what it was about?" she asked.

Jason frowned. "Well, we were on Olympus- the one in New York, not here. For some reason, seven of us were waiting outside the room, but I don't know why. I could tell we were talking about something, but I couldn't hear what we were saying. But then the dream changed. I was standing in the sky I guess, surrounded by clouds. But it wasn't really creepy. The clouds were the big white fluffy kind, and I don't think the sky could've been bluer. A voice started talking to me, but at first I couldn't tell what she was saying."

"You said 'at first'. Does that mean you did hear what the lady was saying eventually?" Reyna asked.

"She said…" Jason lowered his voice, leaning closer to Reyna like he was sharing a secret. "She said that we need to keep our eyes open. She said that the fight might not be over."

Reyna almost choked. When Jason looked at her funny, she explained the feeling she had been having.

"That isn't good," he muttered. "But, Porphyrion's dead. If Gaea was going to raise him again, I figure she would've done it by now."

"That means that if the fight _isn't_ over, then someone- or _something_- is coming for us."

Jason checked his watch. "It's almost four o'clock in the morning now. I'd say it's been about an hour since the fight ended."

"Wait, so you're saying that we- well really you and Percy- beat Porphyrion in like two-three hours?" Reyna asked.

Jason nodded. "I don't see how it's possible, but apparently it is."

"And now we have two to three hours until sunrise."

"Do you think that it'll all end when the sun comes up?"

Reyna sighed. "We can only hope so. Halley always told me that sunrise brings hope that the new day won't suck as much as the last."

"She really said it that way?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she did."

Jason nodded and looked at Reyna. She was lying on her back, her eyes closed. He knew she wasn't sleeping though.

"Get some sleep, Reyna," he said.

Reyna sighed again. "Only if you do. I'm sure that you're more tired than me. I mean… you killed a giant."

Jason placed his hands behind his head. "You're probably right," he said, "but I don't want to go back to sleep yet. That dream's too fresh in my mind…"

Jason glanced up as he heard Reyna's quiet breathing mix with the others. He smiled faintly then looked up at the stars. Hopefully, Reyna's feelings that the fight wasn't over yet was just a feeling, and not her future-seeing powers telling her what was going to happen.

A noise beside him shook Jason out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Piper sitting up slowly, reaching for her knife.

"Piper," Jason whispered.

When she didn't respond at first, he reached out and touched her arm. She spun around, a crazed look in her eyes. She shook her head and blinked a couple of times.

"Ja-Jason?" she asked.

Jason nodded. "Are you okay? Did you have a bad dream or something?"

"Something like that," Piper muttered. She pulled her knees up to her head and hid her face.

Jason leaned closer and moved a piece of hair that was hanging down the side of her face.

"Piper, tell me what your dream was about."

Piper shook her head. "Please don't make me Jason."

"Was it really that bad?" Jason asked.

This time Piper nodded. "It was worse than the dream I had back in December with Enceladus."

All of a sudden, she broke down crying. Her body shook with each sob. Jason didn't really know how to respond, so he just did what was natural. He scooted closer to her wrapped his arm around her.

"Hey. It's… It's okay. It's going to be okay, Piper."

Piper looked up at him. The tears in her multi-colored eyes glistened in the dim lights from the temples.

"Jason," she said. "I've only known I was a demigod for a little over six months. You and I both know that it _won't_ be okay."

"Don't say that," Jason replied. "It _will_ be okay. We defeated Porphyrion. The gods and Hunters are most likely finishing off the rest of the giants. We'll be able to go home before you know it."

Piper looked Jason in the eyes. "Jason she whispered. We can't go home. Not until the prophecy's fulfilled. And it isn't yet."

Jason was almost going to say something, but he was interrupted when Leo sat bolt upright and gasped.

Jason and Piper turned to look at him.

"Leo?" Piper said.

"Are you okay bro?" Jason asked.

Leo looked at the two of them. "Guys, we've got a problem."

They were about to ask what when suddenly a cold winter wind blew across the top of the mountain, waking up the rest of the group.

"That's our problem," Leo stated, standing to his feet.

"What is it?" Halley asked, standing up next to him.

Leo turned around and looked at the rest of the group. Jason, Piper, and Reyna all had looks of recognition on their faces. Thalia looked like she knew what it was, but unlike the other three, she had a murderous look on her face. The rest of the group looked pretty confused.

"Please tell me that's not who I think it is," Piper murmured.

"Oh it is," Leo muttered.

"Who?" Percy asked.

"Khione," Leo stated.

A chilling laugh floated across the mountain as it started to snow. Out of the gloom, the goddess appeared, just as evil looking as always. Behind her, another figure emerged; one the majority of the group recognized all too well.

"Aiden," Halley snarled, gripping her sword tighter.

Aiden smirked, but said nothing.

"I'm so glad that you recognized me, Leo Valdez," Khione said coldly. She lifted her arms and the snow started swirling harshly around the group. "Now, I think we have some unfinished business to attend to." She held her arms out in the direction of the group blasting them with freezing sleet and ice.

**Oh, it seems Reyna and Piper get to say "I told you so". Either way, I enjoyed writing this chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading it ;).**

**Oh, hey Piper/Jason fluff! Yay! Okay, so maybe it's not too great fluffiness, but it works, right ;)?**

**Only a few more chapters of this story to go, I'm afraid. But no worries, I already have another great story planned. It won't be Heroes of Olympus related. It's an AU story I came up with. Never fear, there will still be all your favorite PJO characters. I'll probably be giving you guys more details in later chapters, but that's all for now :). **

**Reviews appreciated. *hint-hint***


	16. Chapter 16

**Alrighty, so here's the next chapter! YAY!**

**Enjoy! =)**

Chapter 15: Storm, Fire, and the Doors of Death

Leo had a split second to think before he raised a wall of fire to protect the group. From behind it, he shouted "What are you doing here, Khione?"

The ice and sleet ceased. Leo cautiously lowered his firewall so he could get a better look at the goddess.

"I'll ask again," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"And why would you be sided with Gaea?" Annabeth asked. "You've turned your back on the gods! You..."

"We've already defeated Porphyrion," Jason said, interrupting Annabeth's rant. "Do you really think that you can beat us?"

Khione laughed coldly. Beside her, Aiden smirked.

"Oh, you poor, ignorant heroes," she said. "If only you had realized who the real threat was to begin with."

"What are you talking about, witch?" Thalia spat out.

The look Khione gave Thalia was so cold; Reyna and Adria (who were currently standing next to Thalia) felt the temperature drop around them.

"What I mean," Khione said sternly, "is that while you heroes were busy fighting giants, I and my army have been watching from the sidelines. Gaea knew her children would be defeated, so she decided to bring in a second force... one much more reliable than clumsy giants." she said the word like it left a fowl taste in her mouth.

"So if the giants weren't the real threat..." Piper stated.

"Are you saying that you're the thing we should be worried about?" Leo asked.

Khione's cold eyes glistened evilly. "Of course that's what I'm saying, Leo Valdez. It's even mentioned in that ridiculous prophecy: _To storm or fire, the world must fall_. Pretty straight forward if you ask me."

"No one did," Jason muttered.

Leo considered this. He glanced at Aiden, standing beside Khione. The words from the prophecy echoed in his mind. _To storm or fire._

Suddenly, Leo realized what had to happen. He looked at Halley.

"Can you take Aiden?" he asked.

Halley gave him a sly look. "Where to?" she asked. "I think I might be able to book him a one-way ticket to Tartarus."

Leo grinned. "If anything goes wrong... get Jason or Thalia to help. Or maybe even Percy. Someone who can manipulate storms. We want to keep Aiden out of the prophecy right now, but if we can't..."

"I get it Leo," Halley said. "But what about you?"

Leo's expression turned serious. "I've got a date with the Ice Princess," he muttered.

Halley's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. Meanwhile, the others had continued the verbal battle with Khione.

"You said you had an army," Percy stated. "I don't see an army."

Khione smiled, but it definitely wasn't a warm friendly smile. "Oh, you don't, do you? Well, perhaps if I clear away the fog..."

Khione lifted her arm once more, sending a winter wind across the mountain, blowing away the fog that had started to surround them. When the fog was completely clear, all the group could do was gasp.

Khione had an army alright; an army that numbered close to hundred, at the very least. The army included all sorts of monsters, and also some ancient familiar faces.

"My army isn't large compared to some of the ones you heroes faced last summer," Khione said. "But my army will be hard to defeat! The Doors of Death are open, and Hades doesn't have his key."

She held up a long black and gold key. Nico glared at the sight of it. "I have to get that key back to my dad," he muttered. He looked up at Khione. "How'd you get that?" he asked her.

Khione's smile didn't fade. "_I_ didn't get it. Gods cannot steal items of another gods' power. But demigods..."

As she spoke, a figure stepped out from her army. He was tall, with blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. His facial features gave away the fact that he was a son of Hermes or Mercury.

Thalia and Annabeth gasped.

"L-Luke?" Thalia stammered.

"It can't be him," Annabeth muttered. "He... he wouldn't do that."

The boy turned and faced them. His eyes held the signature mischief glint that all children of Hermes/Mercury had.

"Wait," Percy said. "He's not Luke. He doesn't have a scar."

Now that he had pointed it out, Annabeth and Thalia realized he was right.

"If he's not Luke..." Thalia stated.

"Then who..." Annabeth started; only to be interrupted.

Halley walked to the front of the group and stood right in front of the Luke imposter. She had recognized him from the first moment he had appeared, but she hadn't wanted to believe it. Behind her, Jason and Reyna were both standing gaped mouth at the sight.

The boy turned to look at Halley. "Hey little sis," he said cheerfully. "How you doin'?"

Halley glared at him. "I can't believe you," she said, fighting to keep her voice firm. "You chose the traitor side... again!"

Leo looked at Jason. "Who is that?"

"That's..." Jason frowned, like he didn't want to believe that guy was really there. "That's Halley's brother. Caleb."

Leo couldn't hide the surprised look on his face. "I thought... I thought she killed him."

"She did," Jason muttered. "But they've opened the Doors of Death, so I guess that means that he was able to get out."

Caleb was shaking his head at Halley. "You're never gonna learn, are you Hals? The gods are old news. They can't do anything. Why would you side with them?"

"Why wouldn't you?" Halley argued. "They're our family, Caleb! A very dysfunctional family, but still our family!"

"And what have they done for me?" Caleb asked. At this point the two children of Mercury were oblivious to everything else around them.

"More than what Gaea and the titans have!" Halley yelled. "Do you honestly think that Gaea will give you whatever she promised? If she gets in control, the first thing she will probably do is destroy humanity... and all the demigods!"

"Starting with you," Caleb said. "You and your friends. Your powers will be used to raise the Great Mother. And, as an added bonus, we have all living children of the Big Three right here, and one of them is a god, and two are immortal Hunters. Three immortals added with the other two... we might not even need the rest of you weaklings."

Halley frowned. They still wanted to go through with that? "You're a traitor Caleb," she snarled. "I hope you rot in Tartarus."

She turned her back on him, but apparently Caleb wasn't done talking.

"You ever get over the guilt of killing me, Hals?"

Halley reached up for her locket and grabbed it in her fist.

Reyna stepped forward, bow in hand. "Caleb..." she started to say in a steely tone.

"No its okay, Reyna," Halley whispered. She turned to look her brother in the eye. Using a friendly version of Reyna's tone, Halley said "Well that depends, Caleb. Did you ever get over the guilt of killing Dakota?"

Caleb glared at Halley. "Dakota deserved to die," he said quietly.

"And so did you!" Halley stated. She risked a quick glance at where Khione was standing, watching the argument in amusement. She still held the key in her hand. Turning back to Caleb, Halley started to form a plan.

Caleb hadn't missed his sister's pause. He knew what she wanted. "Before you even ask Halley, I was the one who stole the key. It wasn't even hard. You would've thought that the gods had learned their lesson when the Helm and Master Bolt were stolen, but apparently they didn't. Hades didn't even realize I had taken it until it was too late. I had already given it to Gaea."

Halley concentrated on connecting her mind to the other heroes.

*guys,* she said. She gave them all a second for them to register that she wasn't speaking aloud before continuing. _We've gotta get that key_.

_Can you steal it?_ Annabeth asked.

Halley thought for a second. _Probably,_ she answered. _But it depends on how close I can get without being turned into a Halley-sicle_.

_I doubt you'll get very close, _Thalia said. _Last time we fought her, I got about ten feet away from her and she froze me._

_Well, we have to get the key somehow,_ Halley said.

_Okay, I've got a plan,_ Annabeth said. _Leo, you cover Halley while she tries to swipe the key. You get the key Halley, then give it to Nico. The he can go lock the Doors._

_Sounds like a plan,_ Nico threw in. _But what will you guys do when Frozen Lady figures out what happened?_

_Fight like Hades,_ Percy said.

Halley nodded at the others, and then cut the connection with all of them except Leo. He looked at her and asked _You'll be okay, right?_

_Of course I will. You keep Khione busy in the front, and I'll sneak around behind her._

_What if you get frozen?_ Leo asked.

_Then I guess you'll just have to unfreeze me_, Halley smirked.

She broke the connection and started to fade back into the group, so she could have a better angle to flank around behind Khione. Annabeth grabbed her arm as she made it to the back of the group.

"Use this," Annabeth said, shoving her Yankees cap into Halley's hand.

"You sure Annabeth?" Halley asked.

"Can't have you getting frozen," Annabeth responded with a grin. "Now hurry up and get going."

Halley took the hat and put it on. She disappeared, and continued her approach on Khione.

Leo stood in front of Khione weaponless. "You're the storm in the prophecy, aren't you?" he asked.

"That's a matter of opinion," Khione replied. "It could easily be me, or more correctly a snow storm. It could also be one of your friends." She gestured to where Jason and Thalia had begun to fight.

Leo glanced their way. He hadn't seen the brother-sister duo fight together much, but now they stood back-to-back, slowly moving in circles so that their enemies couldn't sneak up behind them. Jason had his sword, obviously, but Leo was surprised to see Thalia holding a spear in her hand. Every time he had seen her fight, she had always used her Hunter weapons. But it was easy to see why she had a spear instead of her bow or knives. Attached to her left arm was probably the scariest shield Leo had ever seen. One glance at _Aegis_, and Leo turned away.

"Does that make me the fire?" Leo asked Khione.

Khione smiled coldly. "It could be you," she said. Her voice was so persuasive that Leo couldn't block it out. She lowered her voice and took a step closer to Leo. "All you have to do, Leo, is join our side. We've asked you once, and you turned us down. Now Gaea offers you another chance. Another chance to become part of the winning side. Do you honestly believe that your pathetic group of friends will be able to defeat my army?"

Leo blinked. Khione was making sense. What chance did they stand? They were outnumbered… at least fifty to one. There was no way they could defeat Khione's army.

Before Leo could respond, however, Halley's voice called out from somewhere behind Khione.

"Leo! Don't do it!"

Leo glanced the way the voice had come from, but he didn't see Halley.

"Leo, she's lying to you! Don't listen to that witch!"

Halley's voice sounded desperate. Leo didn't know why.

"Ignore the girl," Khione cooed. She edged closer to Leo. Now she only stood a few feet away, and Leo could feel the air around him turning icy. "With us you could win, Leo. You could be the hero, and not just the lowly mechanic… the comic relief. No would be looking down on you. Just up at you…"

Leo was dazed. He didn't notice just how close Khione really was to him, until he heard Halley scream out.

"_LEO_!" she shrieked.

On instinct, Leo jumped back and set his hands aflame. He hadn't realized that Khione was standing almost a foot away, and was reaching out to freeze him.

Khione recoiled at the flames. "Now Leo," she whispered. "There is no need for hostility."

"Back off witch," Leo snarled, trying to make his voice sound as hostile as possible. "I'm not joining your side."

"Such a shame," Khione murmured. She seemed genuinely upset.

She looked up behind her, to where Caleb was standing with a club, which seemed out of place among the swords and other sharp objects. Aiden was beside him, holding up something Leo couldn't see.

Wait. Something he couldn't see. Leo risked a quick glance around. There was Annabeth, perfectly visible. Only thing wrong was the fact that her Yankees cap was no longer sticking out of her back pocket.

Leo looked back to the traitors. "Let. Her. Go," he growled.

"Let who go?" Aiden asked innocently.

Leo glared at him.

"I don't guess you mean…" Caleb said as he raised his club and took a hard baseball swing at whoever Aiden was holding.

Halley cried out. Annabeth's cap fell from her head as she doubled over in pain, making herself visible.

Leo almost charged Caleb, but Khione blocked his path.

Halley looked up at him, her eyes filled with hate. But the hatred wasn't pointed at Leo. Leo could tell that Halley was about to kill her brother… again.

_Don't worry about me, Leo_, her voice said in his mind. Leo still had problems grasping the fact she could do that. _You deal with Khione, and I'll handle these two bozos._

Leo didn't ask why, because right then, a shout sounded from above him.

"Incoming!" a female voice called out.

Khione looked up, and so did Leo. All Leo saw was a flash of silver. Then he heard a crash where Caleb, Aiden, and Halley were standing. He looked to where the noise had come from, and saw none other than Thalia standing over top of Caleb, who was now sprawled on the ground. An arrow was notched in her bow and was pointed straight at his heart. A smug look was on her face as she flipped some of her hair out of her face.

"Leo, you take care of Frostbite," she said forcefully.

"I heard that, Daughter of Zeus!" Khione said, spinning around to face Thalia.

Thalia didn't miss a beat. Without even looking up at Khione, she sing-songed "You were supposed to."

Khione practically growled (if goddesses growled) at Thalia and sent an icy-blast in her direction. Thalia smirked and launched herself into a flip over the goddess' head, landing right beside Leo. Ice pellets fell on Caleb, who was still lying on the ground. Thalia unfortunately hadn't had a chance to kill him.

Khione turned to where Thalia now stood. She would've blasted her again, but knew it was useless when she was standing right next to Leo. Instead, she glared at Thalia.

"I figure you would've learned not to mess with me, Thalia Grace," Khione stated.

Thalia's smirk didn't leave her face. "I'm a slow learner," she replied.

A movement behind Khione caught Leo's eye. Halley had somehow managed to knock both Aiden and Caleb out without being heard. She was now silently sneaking up behind Khione, reaching for the key that now hung around a loop on her belt. Halley reached into her bag and pulled out a switchblade. Leo figured she was going to cut the key off.

Thalia and Khione were still going at it. Apparently, Thalia was not only a "slow learner" (according to her), but she was also a definite grudge holder. It was easy for Leo to tell that Thalia hadn't quite gotten over being frozen back in December.

"I figure that it can't hurt to throw another chess piece into play," Thalia said.

Leo glanced at her, hoping she could see Halley. Thalia noticed Leo looking at her, and gave the slightest nod. Leo got the message. She could see Halley, and knew what she was up to.

"Another chess piece," Khione stated.

"You said so yourself," Leo pointed out. "Thalia or Jason could easily be the storm in the prophecy."

Khione frowned and took a step towards Leo and Thalia. Behind her, Halley almost fell from where she reaching for the key. The daughter of Mercury glared up at Khione, and then went back to work. In one of her hands was the switchblade. Halley looked up at Leo and met his eyes. Her eyes read "Keep Khione talking. I've almost got the key."

Leo decided for drastic measures. He lit a small flame in his hand and held it towards Khione.

Khione laughed Leo. Then she turned to Thalia. "You think that you can affect the prophecy Thalia Grace? Think again."

Khione was good at giving extremely cold stares, but even she wasn't as good as Thalia. The look Thalia gave Khione now made Leo want to back away from her, but he stood his ground. Leo willed the flame in his hand to grow bigger. Thalia shifted so she wouldn't be so close. They were both aiming for the same thing at that moment: keep Khione distracted without her freezing them so Halley could get the key.

Halley reached for the key. She grabbed a hold of it and pulled the cord as tight as she could without Khione noticing. She cut the cord and rolled back, and landed in a crouch.

That's when Leo threw the fireball that had slowly been forming in his hand at Khione. She dodged the flame and then sent an icy blast at Leo and… Leo looked in shook at where Thalia _had_ been standing a minute ago. He looked and saw her behind Khione, beside Halley. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to ponder how she got there so fast. Khione was a little bit mad now, and Leo knew that he was going to have his hands full.

…

Halley looked up at Thalia, who had just randomly appeared at her side when Khione had blasted Leo.

"We've gotta get the key to Nico. He's the only one that can get to the Underworld fast enough."

"I know that," Halley said. She was still crouched down behind Khione, the key clutched in her hand.

Thalia scanned the field for Nico. "There he is," she said, pointing him out to Halley.

Halley nodded then launched herself into the air. "Come on Thalia." She reached down and grabbed Thalia's arm, pulling her into the air too.

"Halley! I hate flying!"

"Would you rather stick around Leo's fight with Queen Frostbite?"

That was enough to shut Thalia up. Halley let go of her arm as Thalia willed the air around her to support her. The two girls flew across the field to where Nico was currently battling a group of undead.

Halley landed gracefully next to him as Thalia stumbled beside them. The girls drew their weapons and started fighting.

"I got the key, Nico," Halley told him. She slipped it into the pocket of his aviator's jacket.

"Get your butt to the Underworld, Death Breath," Thalia said.

Nico didn't respond as the shadows around him shimmered and he disappeared.

…

It had been Annabeth's idea to send Thalia to help Leo. Jason had been happy having his sister fighting beside him, but he figured that they should listen to Annabeth.

He saw Thalia and Halley flying overhead towards Nico. As he continued fighting, Jason glanced around at where the rest of the group was fighting. Percy and Annabeth were fighting a few yards away. Piper was in the other direction, persuading enemies to do… well, pretty insane things. Jason let a small laugh escape his lips as he watched one of the people that had attacked her start doing the Chicken Dance.

It was obvious that Leo was trying to hold his own against Khione. Normally, when it was demigod versus god/goddess, the demigod was always at a disadvantage. But Jason knew that it was possible for a demigod to beat a god. And he had seen Leo fight Khione before. The "Flaming Valdez" would be okay.

Suddenly, Jason found himself fighting next to Reyna. She was fighting with her knives, but that didn't affect her fighting.

"Jason, we can't beat all these guys," Reyna said to him.

Jason frowned. As usual, and unfortunately, she was right. They were still outnumbered.

"Nico's gone to close the Doors," Reyna continued.

"Well, when he gets back…" Jason was interrupted by a new sound. One he couldn't quite describe.

Reyna looked at him wide eyed, then turned in the direction of the sound.

Emerging out of the shadows was none other than Nico, leading an army of demigods.

"I don't think I've ever been happier to see a son of Hades," Reyna said with a small laugh.

**So, Nico's a hero too! Of course I had to let him have his 15 minutes (or probably more correctly words). I'm also really proud of this chapter title! Random, I know, but it takes a while for me to come up with some of these.**

**Anyway, Review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**You want to know something I just recently realized? Children of Athena have no DNA bond with either of their parents. Since they were created out of thoughts, then there isn't any DNA, right? I probably have it all wrong, but it was just a random thought that I had.**

**Anyways, here's chapter 16! We're getting closer to the end people. Woo, woo!**

Chapter 16: This Is How It All Ends

It was almost funny, the way everyone on the mountain stopped to stare at Nico's army. Khione shrieked in outrage.

"No! It's not possible!"

Leo laughed at her. "Think again witchy. Nico just saved the day."

Khione turned to glare at him. "That's what you think, Leo Valdez. My army shall not be defeated easily."

With those words, it began to snow all over the mountain. The temperature dropped about thirty degrees, and almost everyone started shivering even as they fought. The wind started to blow fiercely, threatening to knock Leo over. The storm had begun.

...

After getting over the initial shock of Nico's arrival, Thalia and Halley went back to fighting. They didn't pause to think how the two of them had gotten paired together, but it worked out well. Halley was used to fighting beside someone with a bow after her many years of fighting alongside Reyna. Even when Thalia ditched the bow for a spear, Halley wasn't fazed. The Medusa face on _Aegis_ startled her, but it does that to anyone who isn't expecting it.

Thalia had no problem fighting beside Halley, either. Sure, her training was different compared to what Thalia was used to, but Thalia was one of those people that didn't really care how a job got done, as long as it got done. That was a mindset most half-bloods shared, since it wasn't uncommon for their plans to get altered.

As the two girls continued to fight, Halley noticed a familiar figure fighting nearby. She thought she recognized him, but wasn't quite sure what to think. When his face turned in her direction, her eyes widened.

"Hey Thalia? You knew Luke, right?" Halley asked.

Thalia kicked an enemy off of her spear, and then glanced at Halley. "I did, but what does that have to do with this? In case you haven't noticed, we're sort of in the middle of a war."

"I've noticed, and think Luke's noticed too," Halley replied.

Thalia glanced in the direction Halley was looking, just as a guy in Roman Empire armor attacked her.

"Duck!" Halley shouted, as she pushed Thalia into a bent over position and rolled over her back, blocking the _gladius _that had been coming at her. Then Halley stabbed her own sword into the soldier. The only problem with fighting the undead was that they didn't disintegrate like monsters, so when you killed them, their bodies littered the battlefield.

Thalia stood upright and helped Halley up, who had fallen after stabbing the soldier.

"Thanks," she said.

"No prob," Halley responded. She nodded in the direction she had seen the Luke-figure. "So is that him?" she asked.

Thalia looked in his direction. With a slow nod, she said "I think it is. Give me a second, and I'll get the right answer."

Thalia sprinted over to the tall blonde guy Halley had pointed out.

"Luke?" she shouted, which was a little unnecessary, since she was only a few feet behind him.

The guy spun around and looked at her, and Thalia gasped.

"Thalia?" Luke asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Fighting the same fight you are," Thalia responded. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Please tell me that you're fighting with Nico's army."

"Of course I am," Luke said. He ducked as an enemy swung a sword at his head, and then retaliated with his own strike.

Thalia turned back to fighting as Luke asked "So how did you get stuck here?"

Thalia let out a small laugh. "Uh, Lady Artemis called some of the Hunters to go fight the giants, then I left there and came here because Percy died."

Luke turned to look at her in shock. "Percy died?" he asked. "Then how is he fighting over there?"

"The gods made him immortal. He's a god now."

Now it was Luke's turn to laugh. "Percy's a god? That's funny."

"Yeah, well, he saved our hides against Porphyrion. If it hadn't been for him, we never would've beaten him."

"Because you have to have a god, right?"

Thalia nodded as she speared a German soldier that looked like he was from World War II.

After that, they talked little, fought more. But Thalia couldn't help but notice how she felt much more confident fighting beside Luke than she had in a while. It was like they were back on the run, always watching each other's back. Thalia didn't even let the whole Kronos deal cross her mind. She was back fighting to the death beside her best friend.

…

Halley didn't wait around long for Thalia's answer of whether or not that guy had been Luke or not. She knew it was, or at least she was pretty sure that it was him. Either way, Thalia ran off and started fighting alongside him, so Halley kept fighting.

It wasn't long until she noticed another familiar figure fighting beside her. He was fighting on their side. Halley had noticed that the majority of the enemies were wearing older style uniforms and armor from all time periods. The majority of the demigods fighting on their side were wearing modern clothes underneath armor. Halley actually recognized half of them. They were some of the half-bloods that had been killed in the war last summer.

But when Halley saw this particular demigod fighting, she almost dropped her sword. At first, she almost didn't believe her eyes, but then she thought _It's not like I've seen weirder than this in one night_.

The half-blood turned and faced her, and he looked just as surprised as she was. Halley gaped at the fact that her assumption had been right.

"Dakota?" she yelled.

Her brother stared at her. "Hals! Glad I found you!"

"What the Hades Dakota? How…"

"Hades?" Dakota asked.

Halley glared at him. "Yes, Hades. As in the Greek name for Pluto. I've spent the past few weeks with a bunch of Greek half-bloods. You can kind of expect I would pick up on some of their phrases. Besides, 'what the Hades' sounds better than 'what the Pluto'."

Dakota laughed as he spun around and slashed his sword at a few guys that looked like they had stepped straight out of the movie _300_. The Spartans fell easily, which surprised Halley.

"When did you get so good at sword fighting?"

"Well, didn't have much to do in Elysium, so I got that Luke guy over there to teach me a few things. He's an amazing swordsman." Dakota answered nonchalantly, like he talked about what he did during his stay in the Land of the Dead all the time.

"I think Luke was the guy that trained Percy," Halley commented.

"Percy…" Dakota muttered, trying to remember if he had heard about him before. "I think I know who you're talking about. Some of the guys in Elysium mentioned him once or twice."

Halley ducked a swing from one of her opponents. She kicked the person away without even bothering to see who it was, or even what era they were from. She didn't get to respond to Dakota's comment because at that time, Halley heard laughter behind her. But it wasn't just any particular laughter. Halley recognized this laughter, and so did Dakota, who cursed in response.

The laughter continued as a voice joined it.

"Well, if it isn't my two favorite little siblings," Caleb said with an evil grin. He looked around at the others from his side. "Go find something else to fight," he ordered them. "I've got these two."

As his army turned away, Caleb turned his attention back to Halley and Dakota.

"Get lost, Caleb," Halley snarled.

She was watching Dakota out of the corner of her eye. He was fuming, she could tell. With little effort, she connected their minds.

_Dakota,_ she said with a cautious tone.

_Halley, do me a favor,_ Dakota responded. His eyes didn't leave Caleb. Being three powerful children of Mercury, it was possible that he could pick up on their conversation.

_The last favor I did for you almost got me killed,_ Halley replied.

_Yeah, well this one might get me killed, so it's a fair trade._

Halley risked a glance at Dakota, but quickly looked back at Caleb. _Dakota don't do anything stupid. _She gave a mental sigh. _What favor do you want me to do?_

_Stay out of my way,_ Dakota said as he attacked Caleb.

Neither Halley nor Caleb saw it coming. As Halley watched her two brothers begin to fight to the death, all she could do was stare.

…

Piper couldn't exactly say she was enjoying this, but she figured that out of everyone on her side, she was definitely having the most fun. She used her charm speaking abilities to her advantage, persuading the enemies that it was okay, and she wasn't going to hurt them. It worked every time. They would get within range of her knife, and she would easily kill them.

Things were going pretty well; until someone snuck up behind her while she was busy charming a Roman legionary. The person pinned her arms behind her and she let out a small yelp.

"Quiet, daughter of Aphrodite," a voice hissed in her ear. "Someone might hear you."

Piper spun around as best as she could to see who her captor was. He had a scraggly beard, a dirty face, and a major lack of hair on his head. Piper didn't recognize the face, but something inside her told her that this guy wasn't a cool dude.

"Who are you," she asked in a harsh whisper.

"That doesn't matter," the captor said. "Someone wishes to see you."

Piper struggled against the guy's arms. "Who wants to see me?" she demanded.

"Shut up!" he ordered. He began to drag her to the nearest temple, which happened to be the Dionysus temple. Piper shuddered when she thought of what kind of person would want to meet her there.

She fought and fought against her captor, but it was no use. He was too strong. He was also apparently immune to charmspeak also, because no matter what Piper said, he wouldn't tell her who wanted to see her or let her go.

As they reached the temple, Piper finally saw who it was that had caused her to go through all of this.

"Medea," she snarled.

The witch gave a very evil smile. "Well hello, Piper McLean."

"Why do you want to see me?" Piper asked. "You couldn't leave me alone and let me fight?"

"Because, there is someone we need to… deal with," Medea stated, "But we cannot get to him. Then we thought 'why not bring him to us?'"

"You're talking about Jason," Piper said.

"Why, of course. Who did you think I was talking about?"

"You can't get to Jason through me." Piper tried to keep her voice calm.

"Oh we can't?" Medea asked. She turned and nodded to someone behind her. Lit walked out of the doorway of the temple. He twirled his sword around in his hand and smirked.

"What… what are you going to do?" Piper stuttered.

"There other powers of persuasion besides charmspeak, Piper," Medea responded.

Quick as lightning, Lit jumped off of the temple porch and slashed Piper's arm with his sword.

Piper stifled a cry. As tears welled in her eyes, she glared at Medea and Lit. "I don't need help," she muttered. "You're plan won't work."

"Oh, I believe it will eventually," Medea said confidently.

Lit stabbed at Piper again. She dogged as best as she could, but unfortunately she was still in the arms of her captor. The sword hit her arm again, close to the first wound. This time, she let a small cry escape her lips, but it wasn't loud enough for anyone else to have heard.

…

Jason and Reyna fought side-by-side. Reyna alternated between her bow and her knives, while Jason slashed and stabbed with his sword.

Everything was going good for them, until Jason heard someone shout his name. Both he and Reyna turned in the direction of the voice.

"Who was that?" Reyna asked.

Jason shook his head. "I don't know," he answered.

One of the enemies behind them laughed.

"They've got your girlfriend Jason Grace," the enemy said.

Jason spun around to face him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"That Aphrodite girl? They've captured her."

Jason jumped towards the enemy, pointing his sword to the guy's throat.

"Who's captured her?" Jason snarled at him.

"M-Medea," the guy stammered.

Jason pushed the guy to the ground and turned to Reyna.

"Reyna, I've gotta go save Piper," he stated. Reyna didn't respond, and Jason noticed the blank look in her eyes. He reached out and caught her right as her knees gave out.

"Reyna," Jason said urgently, "What happened? What did you see?"

Reyna shook her head and blinked before looking up at Jason. "Piper's in trouble," she said.

"Where is she?" Jason asked.

Reyna stood up and readied her bow. "They're holding her at the Dionysus temple," she explained. "But Jason, you…" She glanced up to see that Jason had already taken off.

"That air head," she muttered as she took off after him.

…

As Jason reached the temple, he could see the entire scene of Piper's torture unfolding right in front of him. He was thinking of how to get her away from her captor when a flash of silver flew by him. Jason stared at the five silver arrows that were sticking out of the captor's back. Jason turned around to see Reyna standing behind him holding her bow.

"Reyna, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Making sure you don't get yourself killed," Reyna said with a grudging smile.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Jason Grace, right on time."

Jason looked up to where the voice had come from. He wasn't exactly surprised to see Medea standing on the stairs of the Dionysus temple.

Jason stared down Medea as Reyna ran forward and knelt beside Piper. She had to push the captor off of her, who had unfortunately fallen on her when he had fallen.

Reyna began examining the multiple cuts Piper had. As she did, she quietly whispered to her, making sure no one else could hear her.

"Hey Piper, can you tell me what happened?" Reyna whispered.

Piper groaned before answering. "He captured me, and brought me here. Medea said that they needed Jason, and I was the bait. Lit started stabbing and cutting me with his sword, trying to get me to call for Jason's help. But I couldn't. I couldn't get Jason to come help me."

"He did anyway," Reyna said. "One of the people we were fighting told him you were in trouble, and he took off running." Reyna decided it was best to leave out the details of her vision.

"He's an idiot," Piper said, wincing as Reyna poured nectar on her wounds. As the pain subsided, Reyna started wrapping the wounds.

"I've known that for a while, Piper," Reyna said with a laugh. "I've known Jason my entire life. It doesn't take long to figure that out."

Piper laughed. "What was it like?" she asked. "Growing up at the Roman camp?"

Reyna didn't respond. Instead, she said "I don't think you'll be fighting much more."

"I can still talk," Piper said, a little confused that Reyna didn't answer her question. "That's all I need."

"Glad to hear," Reyna said as she finished her wrapping. She stood up and looked to where Jason was now fighting with Lit. "He cares about you Piper," she whispered, turning back to face the daughter of Aphrodite. "The way he looks at you… I've never seen him look at anyone the way he does with you."

Piper hoped her face wasn't as red as it felt. "Thanks Reyna," she murmured.

"And if he doesn't get himself killed," Reyna continued with a smirk, "You guys make a great couple."

"I thought I was the daughter of the love goddess," Piper joked.

Reyna shrugged. Then she pulled her bow and shot a couple of arrows at Lit. The bad guy fell and Jason turned to Reyna with a "why the heck did you do that" look.

The two girls laughed as they walked over to Jason.

"You're okay," he said to Piper.

She nodded and reached out to hug him. He accepted and hugged her as tight as he could without bothering her injuries.

Unfortunately, their moment was ruined when Annabeth and Percy ran up out of breath.

"Leo's falling behind," Annabeth said.

Jason, Piper, and Reyna glanced in the direction Leo had been fighting Khione and realized she was right. The snow was blowing around worse than ever. They could hardly see past twenty feet.

"We need to help him," Piper stated. "But how?"

Annabeth looked at her. "He just needs a support group," she said. "Someone who can persuade him to keep going."

At this point, Piper could feel the eyes of everyone else on her. With a sigh, she asked "What do I have to do?"

…

Leo knew he couldn't keep fighting like this forever. He had resorted to attacking Khione with his hammer. It worked okay, except a hammer isn't exactly lethal. He was quickly tiring out, and it seemed like Khione was barely even tired. On top of that, the snow storm was getting worse.

"Give up, Leo Valdez," Khione said coldly. "You cannot beat me."

Leo didn't let his emotion show, but he was scared. Khione had gotten stronger since December, oddly enough. December should've been the month she was strongest, considering it was the middle of winter. But she was stronger now, at the end of June. Maybe it had something to do with being in Greece. Either way, Leo wasn't doing so hot against the goddess of cold.

Khione blasted Leo with ice daggers, and Leo barley had enough strength to melt them. He collapsed to his knees, knowing he had failed.

That's when he heard it. The sound of Piper's voice, calling out above the wind.

"LEO! DON'T GIVE UP! YOU CAN DO IT!"

Leo could feel her charmspeaking powers working on him. But yet he was still too weak to do anything.

He heard footsteps behind him, and arrows whistle past his head. Following that was the sound of multiple people cursing.

Piper wasn't excluded from the swear spree. Except hers were directed at Leo. In a rough translation, she said something like "Leo, get off your _butt_ and go blast that _witch_ to Tartarus already!"

Piper's voice was urgent. Leo could tell she was scared. But there was something else in her voice, something that reminded Leo of what they had been through, and why he was here, freezing his butt of in the knee deep snow.

Slowly, Leo stood up. He remembered back to the night his mom had died, how Gaea had said she couldn't allow him to live, because of how he would stop her from rising. He had done that. He had fought giants, even if it had only been for a little while. Now he had a new challenge; one that determined the fate of the world.

"Oh, so the little hero has gotten his second wind?" Khione said.

Leo looked her in the eyes. Her brown eyes were cold and menacing. Steeling his nerves, Leo spoke.

"Khione, you won't win. Didn't you ever watch Disney movies as a kid? _Evil. Never._ _Wins._"

With that, Leo raised his hand high above his head, palm facing the sky. With a deep breath, he set his entire body on fire.

…

Halley felt a little bit useless standing there watching her brothers fight. Everything inside of her was screaming to help Dakota, but she knew that this was a score he had to settle on his own. Besides, she had already had her chance to kill Caleb. It was Dakota's turn.

Halley watched undisturbed for the first few minutes, until she realized that the snow was melting under her feet and that her back was growing uncomfortably hot in the middle of a snowstorm.

She spun around with her sword drawn, and not to her surprise he sword connected solidly with the handle of Aiden's axe.

"What do you want?" Halley snarled.

"I heard Dakota was back in town," Aiden replied. "Came to see for myself."

"Well now you've seen it, so leave."

"Not so fast babe. I still have unfinished business with you."

Aiden pulled his axe away from Halley's sword, but quickly brought it back at her. Halley blocked the strike and jumped out of the way as Aiden made a new mud puddle on the mountaintop.

"I'm gonna enjoy killing you," Aiden told her.

"Not as much as I'll enjoy killing you," Halley retaliated.

They continued fighting, exchanging blows back and forth, and neither one was making much progress against the other. Suddenly, there was a cry of pain behind them, and Halley made the mistake of turning to see which brother of hers had been hurt. Aiden took the opportunity to land a blow on her arm… the same one Caleb had stabbed almost a year earlier.

Halley cried out and crumpled to her knees despite the slush on the ground. This arm injury hurt way more than the original had. It could have been that Aiden had used his axe to take a chunk out of the side of her arm. Caleb had only made a good size hole. Halley tried not to shudder at the feeling of the sticky warm blood that was now soaking through her t-shirt.

"Sorry I have to do this, Halley, but Gaea has no room for you or any of your friends in her new world."

He bent down to deliver a fatal blow, which was just what Halley had been waiting for. Before Aiden could realize what was happening, she took her sword and when Aiden got close enough, she stabbed it upward into his gut.

Aiden stumbled back with a shocked look on his face. Halley slowly stood up and watched as he gasped and then fell into the snow. After waiting a few seconds to make sure he was dead, Halley bent down and pulled out her sword, making sure to wipe it off on Aiden's jeans. She then turned to where Dakota and Caleb had been fighting. What she saw surprised her. There was Dakota, kneeling over Caleb's body. He was saying something. As he finished, he stood and turned to Halley, his blue eyes brimming with tears.

"You're hurt," he said, gesturing to her arm.

Halley glanced down at it. She normally didn't have a queasy stomach, but the sight of her own blood and chunk of missing arm made her dizzy. Before she could collapse, Dakota caught her. He helped her sit down and then dug through her bag before producing a wad of gauze and her zip lock bag of ambrosia. Halley halfheartedly ate a square of god food while Dakota patched up her arm.

"You killed him," she whispered.

Dakota finished tying the gauze wrap on. "He killed me first," he muttered. "I was just returning the favor."

Halley half smiled at that comment. But before she could say anything, there was a bright flash of orange light accompanied by a huge blast of heat.

Halley looked up in the direction the flash had come from. Reaching from sky to ground was a very large pillar of fire. Halley struggled to get to her feet as she stated "That's Leo."

Dakota stood up beside her, holding a large handkerchief. "We'll go there, but first I think we need to put your arm in a sling. It'll keep it out of the way. You can fight with a sling, right?"

"Of course I can dip wad," Halley stated as she allowed her brother to fix her arm in the handkerchief he was using as a makeshift sling. Then, together, they took off in the direction of the fire pillar.

…

Fire didn't bother him, but Leo knew that this stunt might be his last hurrah. He could feel the power draining out of him. But he knew that this is what he was supposed to do. He just hoped it was enough.

Leo watched as Khione shrieked and writhed in pain. The heat was too much for her. In a last effort, she summoned a stiff wind a disappeared.

Leo managed to maintain the pillar of fire for a few more seconds before it became too much for him and he collapsed. The fire dissipated and the top of the mountain was left eerily quiet. All of the fighting had stopped. Khione's army had disappeared when she had, so all that was left on the mountain were what was left of the army that Nico had brought.

Silence filled Leo's ears. He felt like his insides were on fire. He stayed in his fallen position for what seemed like forever, until he felt someone's hand on his shoulder.

"Leo," Halley's voice said in his ear.

Leo slowly raised his head to look at her. She was kneeling down next to him. Behind her stood the rest of the seven, along with Adria, Nico, Grover, Thalia, and two other guys Leo didn't recognize. They both had similar facial features and the same blue eyes. One had sandy blonde hair and a horrible scar down the side of his cheek. The other had brown hair and looked a whole lot like Halley.

"It's over," Leo said.

Halley nodded, even though Leo hadn't been asking. She helped him to his feet, and for the first time Leo realized how bad of shape the majority of the group was in. Halley's arm was in a sling, Piper's arms were both wrapped up so she looked like a mummy. Thalia and Annabeth were both sporting various cuts and bruises, and Nico had a black eye.

"You guys look like crap," he muttered. The rest of the group laughed.

"Hey guys," Reyna said as the laughter died down. She pointed to the east side of the mountain. "Look there."

They looked as the faintest traces of a sunrise peaking over the mountain. Halley grinned as she glanced over to the boy that looked like her. That's when Leo realized; this had to be her brother, Dakota.

"Sunrise brings hope," Halley whispered. "Hope that the next day will be better than the last."

"Any day will be better than the yesterday we had," Leo whispered back, wrapping his arm around her, careful not to bother her injured arm.

Halley nodded as a golden light flashed behind the group. The heroes turned to see none other than the goddess Hera standing before them. They all knelt respectively.

"Rise heroes," the goddess said. "You have all earned the right to stand in my presence. I've come to tell you that the fighting is over. We have yet again emerged victoriously from a horrid war, thanks to the help of you. And now, for your transportation home…"

There was a blur of light as the world began to spin. The heroes blanked out for a minute before coming too on none other than Mount Olympus… as in the one in New York.

**Yes! I finally finished this chapter haha! So there will probably only be a few more chapters after this, and I've been debating if I should go ahead and post my new story. I'm close enough to done with this one that the two won't interfere much. Tell me what you guys think, which means you need to review! That means to click that little button at the bottom of the screen. ;)**


	18. Chapter 18

**I've spent the past two days typing this chapter up. And now it's finished :)**

**So here's chapter… 17! Whooo! Enjoy =)**

Chapter 17: Vacation on Olympus

As they realized where they were, there was a mixed reactions throughout the group. The ones that had been to Olympus before (which was everyone except Piper and Leo) seemed surprisingly cool with the fact that they were at the home of the gods, which no demigods had been to since November. Leo and Piper, on the other hand, stared in awe at the sight of the city. They had landed where the steps ended and the market area began.

The group slowly got to their feet. There wasn't one of them that weren't sore and hurting. Halley looked around until she found Hera standing not too far away.

"Tía Callida, what are you going to do about the… the, uh, casualties from the fight?" she asked.

"And what about the rest of my army?" Nico added.

"The bodies have been taken care of," Hera said. "As for the rest of your army, son of Hades, they have been delivered to their appropriate demigod camps. And now, since we still have a few hours here until sunrise, I suggest you heroes clean up and rest. The nymphs will show where you will be staying."

With that, the queen of the gods walked away.

True to Hera's word, the nymphs arrived not that long after that. They lead the tired group through the streets of Olympus. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at a large house that sat at the bottom of the palace's hill. It was almost hidden when walking on the main road.

"The gods said that you could stay here for now. The rooms are already prepared for you. Girls are on the top floor, boys on the second," one of the nymphs said.

"Where are the rest of the Hunters?" Thalia asked.

The nymph pointed to a smaller, silver house across the street. "They're staying over there. Lady Artemis figured that you and Adria would probably want to stay with them, but you do have rooms in this house if you prefer to stay there. Same goes for you Reyna. Artemis realized that you since you haven't exactly been around any of the other Hunters, that you might feel more comfortable with your other friends."

"Oh," Reyna said. "Uh, okay."

"I recommend you guys stay here for now," the nymph said to the three Hunters. "I'm pretty sure the other Hunters are asleep. They got here a little before you guys did, and they all looked very rough."

One of the other nymphs whispered something in her ear.

"Oh, yes," the lead nymph exclaimed. "Some other nymphs will be here shortly to help you all with your injuries. I doubt Reyna has enough strength to help all or you."

The nymphs turned away and left, leaving the group alone.

"Think we should go check on the others?" Thalia asked Adria.

Adria shook her head. "Let them sleep now. Gods only know how hard of a fight they had."

"Works for me," Thalia said with a shrug. With a yawn, she added "Now if you people will excuse me, I'm going to shower, then sleep until tomorrow afternoon."

She ran into the house as everyone else started laughing.

"That isn't a half bad idea," Annabeth said.

The others agreed as they all entered the house.

…

"This place is great," Halley said as she entered the living area on the bottom floor of the house, where the nymphs were currently working on the injuries of others in the group. She was newly showered, wearing a new purple tank top and a pair of denim shorts. Her hair was hanging down around her shoulders, still a little damp.

"Yeah it is," Dakota agreed. He was currently getting a cut on his leg wrapped.

Halley sat down in a chair next to him and almost immediately a nymph started working on taking off the old wrappings on her arm and putting on fresh ones. "How'd you get that?" she asked, nodding towards Dakota's leg.

He looked confused for a second, but then realized what she was talking about.

"Oh that." Dakota laughed a little. "Caleb got a lucky hit at me before I was able to kill him. It's not bad."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Halley asked.

"Your arm was worse, and I had already wrapped this up when I got to you. There was no need to tell you."

Piper walked into the room, her hair still wet from her shower.

"My room is _too pink_!" she announced. "It's like… pink everywhere! And I can tell my mom picked out my wardrobe." She gestured to the lacy white top and denim Capri's she had on.

"At least it's not pink," Halley pointed out.

"True," Piper agreed. That's when she noticed the guy sitting beside Halley. "Oh hey! I'm Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, as you probably guessed. And you are…"

"Dakota," Dakota responded. "I'm…"

"Halley's brother," Piper interrupted. "I guess you came back with Nico's army?"

Dakota nodded.

"Well glad to meet you, Dakota," Piper concluded, sitting down in a chair across the room from them. Nymphs came and started examining the cuts on her arms. Since Reyna had been the one to wrap them earlier, they looked much better than Halley's or Dakota's wounds.

"Wonder where the others are?" Halley asked.

"Well, I know for a fact that Jason, Percy, and Leo are all asleep," Dakota stated. "I don't think they even showered before they passed out."

"Thalia's asleep too," Piper said. "And I think the others were going to sleep some too. No one else had very bad injuries. They were just super tired."

Dakota yawned. "We should probably follow their example and get some sleep too. There's no telling what the gods will want once the sun comes up."

"True," Halley muttered. The nymphs had finished wrapping her arm. They had given her a real sling to wear, but she wasn't going to wear while she was sleeping.

Halley stood up and helped Dakota to his feet. A nymph handed him a crutch which he tucked under his arm, causing Halley to laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Dakota asked.

"I just remembered how you broke your leg when we were thirteen and everyone teased you about it," Halley responded, still laughing.

"Which I still don't understand of why they did," Dakota responded.

Halley smirked. "Maybe because you broke it when you fell out of your bed."

"Because _you_ pushed me out!"

"I did no such thing," Halley countered, running up the stairs.

"She did," Dakota muttered. "It was _all_ her."

Piper walked up behind him, her arms freshly bandaged. "Don't worry," she said with a smile, "I believe you."

"Thanks," Dakota said. He hobbled over to the stairs and started walking up.

"You need help?" Piper asked, following him up the stairs. "I think I can use my arms enough to help you…"

"Nah I got it," Dakota insisted. "You go on ahead and get some sleep."

"Alright. Well, see you later." Piper continued her way up the stairs. When she reached her very pink room, she collapsed on her bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

…

As it turned out, the gods had nothing planned except to sleep that day. Everyone who had been involved in the giant war were all exhausted. The heroes stayed in bed until it was almost ten. By ten-thirty, they had all slowly made their way down to the living area. They were currently sitting around the room, trying to figure out what to do.

"We could watch Hephaestus TV," Leo suggested. He climbed over Piper and Jason and grabbed the remote from the table beside them.

"Leo!" Piper grumbled.

Leo laughed as he clicked the TV set on. The group yelled as the first channel showed a video of Ares and Aphrodite making out.

"Change it!" Halley screamed, reaching for the remote. "CHANGE IT!"

"I'm changing it! I'm changing it!" Leo clicked the channel button and the picture changed to some whales swimming in the ocean.

"Hey, cool whales!" Percy said just as Adria said "Aww, whales."

The rest of the group of the glanced at them curiously, then leaned back and sighed.

"I did _not_ need to see that," Nico said.

Piper was still staring at the screen in horror. "_You_ didn't need to see that?" she asked Nico. "That was my _mom_. _My mom_!" she shuddered.

"Well, my millennium is complete," Thalia stated as she stood up. "I think I'm going to go check on the rest of the Hunters, then go walk around Olympus. Anyone want to come with me?"

"I'll go," Reyna said. "I need to meet the rest of the Hunters anyway."

Adria stood up from her spot on the floor. "I shall also join you," she stated. "There is no telling what trouble my Hunters could possibly be getting into."

As the three Hunters left, Luke stood up too. "I think I'll go look around too," he stated. "I heard the gods got a great new architect to rebuild the city after the war, and I'm curious to see the improvements she's made."

Luke winked at Annabeth before he turned to Dakota and Nico. "You guys want to come with me?" he asked.

They agreed and followed him out the door, Dakota falling a little behind with his crutch. Grover jumped up and ran after them, saying something about a salad bar.

That left Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, and Halley. Halley wasted no time jumping up from her seat on the floor and taking Dakota's chair. Leo, Jason and Piper were sitting on a three seat sofa, with Jason in the middle. He and Piper were holding hands while Leo was absentmindedly clicking through the TV channels. Percy and Annabeth were snuggled up on the love seat, his arm around her as she rested her head on his chest with her feet tucked underneath her. They figured that if the gods did split them apart because of Percy's immortality, they needed to savor the time they did have together.

"Hey Annabeth, you were the city's architect, right?" Halley asked.

Annabeth raised her head up and nodded. "It was my reward for what I did in the titan war," she answered.

"Why don't you show us around? Me and Jason haven't seen it since it was rebuilt."

"How many times have you been here?" Leo asked her.

"This is my third time," Halley responded. "I came here on a quest once when I was… thirteen, I think," she glanced at Jason for help. He shrugged. "Yeah I'm pretty sure that was it. Then I came here last year a few days after the titan war ended. The city was completely trashed, not at all like it had been my first time here."

"You've really only been here twice?" Percy asked.

Jason and Halley both nodded. "We've been up to Mount Othrys more than we've been here," Jason stated.

"Mount Othrys?" Piper asked.

"Mount Tam," Halley clarified. "Mount Othrys is where the titans had their palace back when they ruled the world. Mount Tam is also where Atlas is imprisoned."

"Atlas?" Leo asked, wide eyed.

"Yeah, like the titan Atlas," Halley said. "He's forced to hold up the sky on his shoulders."

"And it's not a fun job," Percy muttered.

"Not at all," Annabeth agreed with a laugh. She reached up and gently tugged on the grey streak in Percy's hair.

Halley glanced over at the other three, wondering if she was missing something. They seemed to know what the others were talking about, so Halley decided to ask about it.

"Am I missing something?" she asked bluntly.

"Not really, it's just that both Percy and I have served some time under Atlas' burden," Annabeth said.

"I'm not sure which hurt more," Percy muttered. "Holding up the sky, or being stabbed in my Achilles spot."

"I don't know about the Achilles spot," Annabeth replied, "But I'm sure that holding up the sky will be the worst pain I will ever feel. Physically, at least." She whispered that last quietly, so it was hard to hear.

"When did this happen?" Halley asked.

"Do you remember when Atlas escaped?" Annabeth asked.

Halley nodded grimly. "That was the same winter Caleb left us for the titan side," she muttered.

Jason rubbed his side. "That jackal tricked us. He posed being attacked by monsters, then when we saved him, and how does he thank us? He stabs me in the gut."

"Harsh," Leo said.

"So, yeah, we remember when Atlas escaped," Halley said, eager to change the subject.

"Well, me and Annabeth were two of the four to hold his burden while he was gone," Percy said.

"Luke held it first," Annabeth explained. "And when they captured me and took me to Mount Tam, I saw he couldn't last much more, so I took it from him, thinking he would actually help me hold it." She frowned at the memory.

"They captured Artemis, and had her take the burden from Annabeth," Percy continued. "Then I came later on a rescue mission with Thalia and a Hunter named Zoë Nightshade, and I took it from Artemis so she could fight Atlas."

"So that's who those half-bloods were," Halley said, looking at Jason. She noticed the others looking at her confused and quickly explained "When Atlas escaped, I spent a lot of time on Mount Tam, trying to figure out what was going on. I saw all of you guys and Diana, each taking your turn holding up the sky. I just never connected the dots…" Halley frowned like she was deep in thought.

They all stayed quiet for a few minutes, save the sound of the TV. Finally, Leo spoke up:

"You know, I agree with Halley that Annabeth needs to show us around the city. Piper and I have never been here, and I'm eager to see all the sights."

He jumped up from his spot on the sofa and ran to the door. As other five started to stand up and follow him, Leo opened the door.

When he did opened the door, he yelped and sprinted back behind the couch.

"Cy-cy-," Leo stuttered. "Cyclops!"

"What are you going on about?" Halley asked him. But then she looked up to the doorway and gasped, automatically reaching for her sword that wasn't hanging around her waist.

The Cyclops at the door broke into a toothy grin and ran into the room, grabbing both Percy and Annabeth in a giant hug.

"Percy!" he exclaimed. "Annabeth!"

Halley, Leo, Piper, and Jason all stood gaped mouth at the bizarre sight.

Percy grunted and tried to push himself out of the Cyclops' embrace. "Okay, Tyson," he said breathlessly. "Let us down."

"Wait," Piper said as the Cyclops set Percy and Annabeth back on the ground. "Did you call him Tyson?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah, this is my… big, little brother Tyson."

"I forgot you guys have never met," Annabeth said with a small smile. "Tyson, this is Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, and Halley Cabrio, daughter of Mercury." She pointed to each in turn.

Tyson frowned. "Who is Jupiter and Mercury?" he asked.

"They're the Roman aspects for Zeus and Hermes," Percy explained. "Jason and Halley are Roman demigods."

"Oh," Tyson said, nodding. "Okay."

"Jason's Thalia's brother," Annabeth said. "You remember Thalia, right?"

"I remember Thalia. She was the tree girl." He looked at Jason. "You are Thalia's brother?"

"Uh, yeah," Jason said. "We had the same mom."

"What are you doing here anyway, Tyson?" Percy asked him.

"Came here to see you cupcakes," a familiar voice said from the doorway.

"Coach Hedge!" Piper, Leo, and Jason all exclaimed.

"Glad you survived," Hedge muttered. "And now if someone could show me towards the salad bar, I would greatly appreciate it."

"Why don't we all go walk around the city?" Annabeth suggested, taking Percy's hand. "Halley and Leo have been begging me to show them around the city anyway."

…

After about thirty minutes of walking around Olympus, the group had shrunk down to six. They had lost Hedge at the salad bar, and Tyson at the forges. Now Annabeth was showing the small group some of her sculptures.

They arrived at a tall marble statue in the shape of the Empire State Building. It was engraved with golden Greek letters top to bottom. With a sad smile, Annabeth looked up at it.

"This was one of my first monuments," she said. "I built it as a memorial for the heroes that died in the titan war. Or at least the ones who died in the fight in New York."

Her eyes suddenly started to glisten with a light that really scared Percy.

"Uh oh," Percy muttered. "That's the look she gets when she's thinking of a new monument."

"That's because I am, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, smacking his arm. She looked over at Jason and Halley.

"You guys don't have a memorial for the heroes form your camp, do you?" she asked them.

They both shook their heads.

"We have an Eternal Flame sort of thing back at camp, but it isn't really much."

The words Eternal Flame made Annabeth's eyes light up even brighter, if that had been possible.

"That's it!" She exclaimed. "I need some paper!"

Halley reached into her bag and pulled out a notepad and a pencil. "Here," she said as she handed the items to Annabeth.

The daughter of Athena took the notepad and quickly started scribbling on it. "We could add onto this one," she muttered. "We could include an Eternal Flame at the base. Maybe add a ring of mountains or something similar to represent the Roman half-bloods." She continued murmuring about her monument, but the rest of the group tuned her out.

"She'll probably be working on that for a while," Percy said. "When she gets into her architect mindset, there's not a whole lot you can do to get her out of it. I can continue showing you guys around if you want me to."

"Actually, Percy," Jason said. "Me and Piper and going to see the skywalk…"

"And Halley told me that she was going to go show me the Hephaestus TV building," Leo said. "We were going to break in and try and find some of my dad's prank ideas."

Percy laughed. "Okay then. You guys have fun. I'll stick here with Annabeth."

The two pairs walked off and Percy grabbed the notepad out of Annabeth's hands.

"Percy!" she exclaimed, reaching for the notepad. "Give that back!"

"Nope," he said with a smirk, holding the pad out of Annabeth's reach. "The others left, and it's just me and you alone on Olympus. There's no way I'm standing by and letting you draw."

Annabeth stood back, crossed her arms and glared at Percy. "Give me back my notepad, Percy!" she said sternly.

Percy tossed the notepad behind him. Then he reached out and pulled her into a hug. Annabeth faked to resist at first but finally gave in.

"See," Percy said with a smirk. "I figured that you would choose spending time with me over drawing a new monument."

"Well, someone's certainly sure of himself," Annabeth said, looking up at him with a smirk.

"Yes I am," Percy responded before he leaned down and kissed her.

Annabeth smiled as she kissed him back. They had just gotten back from a war in Greece. Percy was immortal and they might not be allowed to stay together. But none of that mattered right now. All that mattered was that they were together right then, on Olympus.

…

"This place is amazing," Piper said in awe.

Jason smiled as he squeezed her hand. "You want to see the best view ever?" he asked.

Piper nodded excitedly as Jason led her to the banister at the edge of the skywalk. They both looked out over the edge of it and at New York City far below them. Jason stood behind Piper and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's great, isn't it?"

"A view for the gods," Piper responded with a smirk. She turned her head and looked at Jason.

Jason turned her around so she was facing him, his arms still around her waist.

"I never got to thank you," Piper said.

"For what?"

"For saving me from Lit," Piper explained. "He would've killed me eventually had you not come."

"Oh," Jason said. "Well, I didn't really do all of it, but…"

He was interrupted when Piper kissed him. For a moment, he was shocked, but then he relaxed some and pulled her closer. Piper's back was pressed up against the railing and she wrapped her arms behind Jason's neck. Soon, the world faded away from them. It was just the two of them, together in each other's arms.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a camera flashing. Piper and Jason broke apart and looked in the direction the sound had come from. They didn't see anyone, but they did hear the unmistakable sound of laughter.

"I think I know who that is," Jason said rolling his eyes. Turning back towards the laughter, he called out "Halley!"

"Leo!" Piper added.

The two culprits emerged from their hiding place a few feet away. Leo was hiding behind a bush that was bordering the walking path. Halley flew up on the opposite side of the railing. Both were laughing.

"Seriously guys?" Piper asked.

Leo held up his camera. "Blackmail!" he shouted.

"Can I pulverize him?" Jason asked.

"We've had enough pulverizing for the past week," Piper muttered. "So not now."

Halley landed next to Leo. They both examined the picture on the camera.

"Aww," Halley cooed. "You guys are too cute!"

Piper and Jason were about to respond, but that's when Percy and Annabeth walked up. They both looked a little flushed, and their hair was messed up. No one wanted to interrogate them on what they had been up too, but it was obvious that Percy had managed to get Annabeth's attention away from drawing her monument.

"Thalia said that the gods want to see us in the throne room in two hours," Percy said.

**So this is my attempt at a fluffy chapter. I'm not sure if it's too great, but hey, I like writing suspense, not fluffiness. Either way, I did get Jasper's kiss in there! (Is that the official couple name for Jason/Piper?) I got some Percabeth in there too, because everyone loves Percabeth! I didn't get any Leo/Halley fluff, but I don't see them spending much time kissing, so instead I had them prank Piper and Jason :)**

**Review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Enjoy =)**

Chapter 18: A Hero's Reward

Two hours later, the heroes walked up to the closed doors of the throne room, surprised to see Reyna sitting on the ground in front of them. A book was propped up on her lap, and she was reading intently.

When the group walked up, Reyna casually looked up from her book.

"Hey guys," she said.

"What are you doing out here, Rey," Halley asked.

"Reading," Reyna responded. She held up her book. The title was in Latin, so only Halley and Jason could read it easily. It took Annabeth a few seconds longer than them to decipher the title.

"_De Pugna __C__ontra Gigantes_," Annabeth read. "Is that about the original giant war?"

Reyna nodded. "I got bored sitting here waiting on you guys, so I went over to that book stand over there and got a book to read."

"Why are you sitting out here anyway?" Leo asked.

"Apparently, they don't want the seven of us in there yet," Reyna replied.

"That's weird," Piper muttered.

"That's what I thought too," Reyna muttered. "I got into the doorway, and they almost immediately kicked me out. Thalia came out earlier and explained that they're signing some important paper or something… like a peace treaty between the two camps."

"But why wouldn't they bring us in for that?" Percy asked. "We're all leaders at our camps."

"Thalia said that they'll call us in later. But you'd be surprised how many people I've seen come through here. Campers from both camps… big groups too."

The group frowned as they thought about that. They weren't sure what was going on inside the throne room. After waiting for a while, they were all getting anxious.

"I wish they would just go ahead and call us in," Halley said.

"I know," Leo agreed. "I don't think I can stand here much longer."

"Chill guys," Piper said.

"Patience is a good thing," Reyna added.

"Why are we standing out here again?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shrugged. "I'm not sure," she said. "I don't see why they would keep us out here; they didn't after the Titan war."

"That's true," Percy muttered. "Of course, we were in there before they were then."

"Touché," Annabeth commented.

"I wonder what's keeping them," Jason said. "It's not like their coming to a private decision. There are too many other people in there for that."

"Unless they have everyone voting on how they're gonna reward us," Halley said with a smirk.

"Why would they do that?" Piper asked, just as the group heard Zeus' voice thunder out through the doors.

"Welcome!" Zeus boomed loudly. "Heroes of Olympus!"

* * *

Thalia stopped speaking. She looked around at the young faces all looking up expectantly at her. Emily had come back sometime during the story. A good sized group of older half bloods had also been listening in.

"What happened after that?" Crystal asked.

Thalia glanced at Adria, then at Emily. Both grinned. A few of the older demigods who already knew the story smirked.

"Well," Adria said, "they had saved Olympus. Once again the gods had demigods to thank for their lives."

"And the gods," Emily said, "prefer to pay their debts as quickly as they can."

Thalia nodded. "After the titan war, the gods gave us all a reward; a gift of thanks basically. Annabeth was titled the official architect of Olympus, Grover was made a lord of the wild, and Percy's brother Tyson was made a general of the Cyclopes army. But it was Percy that really hit the jackpot: the gods offered to make him immortal."

"But he turned that down," Crystal stated. "And asked for the gods to remember their kids."

"Right," Emily said. "And something that Thalia didn't know was that Jason was offered immortality too, but he turned it down."

"Apparently," Adria said. "Because the two of them played such an important role in the titan war, the gods agreed that they should join them."

"That's great and all," one of Emily's students said. "But what happened to the seven?"

"Well," Thalia said. "Since they had done so much for Olympus, the gods saw they were true heroes…" she stopped abruptly and looked up at a figure walking down the hill towards the group.

The figure was a girl. She was wearing silver camo cargo pants and black hunting boots. Under her silver jacket was a purple shirt. Her long golden blond hair was pulled back into two long braids entwined with silver ribbon. Across her brow sat a silver and gold circlet.

"Reyna?" Thalia, Adria and Emily all said.

"Hey guys," Reyna responded with a wave.

"Whoa!" one of Emily's students, a son of Ares/Mars most likely, said. "You're Reyna?"

"You're really pretty," another student said. She was probably a daughter of Aphrodite/Venus.

Reyna smiled. "Thank you," she said to the girl. To the boy she said "And, yes, I am Reyna."

"Why are you here Reyna?" Thalia asked. "Shouldn't you be...?"

"Diana sent me to find you two," Reyna replied, pointing at Thalia and Adria. "She needs you to come up to Olympus."

The other two hunters exchanged confused looks. But before they could say anything, Crystal spoke up:

"Miss Reyna?" she said.

Reyna turned to look at her. "Yeah?"

"Miss Thalia and Miss Adria were just telling us the story about your fight against the giants, but they stopped right when you were about to enter the throne room after the war." She paused, looking up at Reyna innocently. "What happened after that?"

Reyna glanced at Thalia and Adria, then Emily, and finally back at Crystal. "Well, uh..."

"Crystal," the little girl said.

"Oh, ok," Reyna said. "Well Crystal, once the gods called us into the throne room..."

* * *

The doors of the throne room swung open and the heroes walked in… not exactly knowing what to expect. This was too bizarre for their taste.

The scene of what was going on in the room was a little odd too. Gathered around a table in the middle of the room was a group of demigods from both the Roman Camp and Camp Half Blood. The gods were sitting on their thrones, looking expectantly at the throne room door.

As the seven walked through the doors, everyone got to the feet and applauded. They were kind of taken aback by the sudden attention.

Piper grabbed Jason's hand. He glanced at her and gave a faint smile.

As they reached the front the room, they began to kneel in front of Zeus and Hera, but Hera quickly protested.

"Don't kneel in front of us, Heroes," the Queen of the gods said.

They all stood up quickly; trying not to draw any more attention to themselves than what was already on them. It was a fail, of course. All eyes in the room were glued on them right now.

"Now, Heroes," Hera started. "No one is going to deny that you have all performed a great service for everyone. You have all performed beyond our expectations and you deserve the proper reward."

Hera turned to look at Zeus. He cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Yes, um, right." He glanced around at the other gods sitting on their thrones. "If the parents of these heroes would announce their child…" he was interrupted by none other than Apollo.

"Of course we will," the sun god said brightly. He got down from his throne and fortunately shrunk down to normal size, while also shimmering shape to appear in his Roman form, even to the Greek demigods. His Roman appearance wasn't very different from his Greek form, except he seemed to glow even brighter. Then he walked over to where the heroes were standing and stood behind Reyna, setting his hands on her shoulders.

"Reyna Matthews, daughter of me, Apollo!"

Reyna glanced up at her dad. "You weren't trying to make that a haiku, were you Dad?" she whispered.

Apollo grinned. "Do you want me too?"

Reyna's eyes widened. "No, no! It's okay."

Artemis spoke from her throne as she changed her appearance to Diana's. Diana looked older than Artemis, maybe late teens. Artemis' auburn hair was also traded for black hair… hair so black it almost looked purple or dark blue.

"I also claim Reyna as my adopted daughter, and my sister from the Hunt," the goddess announced.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Sis," Apollo muttered.

Diana glared at him as Ares, Hermes, and a few of the half-bloods snickered.

"Next hero," Diana said, almost inaudible.

Hermes spoke up next. He didn't stand up from his throne, but he did change to Mercury's appearance. Mercury's transformation was about the opposite of Diana's. Instead of looking older than Hermes, he looked younger. Probably early twenties. His black hair shone shamelessly, and no gray hairs were noticeable.

Mercury snapped his fingers and Halley's shoes developed a life of their own. They lifted her off the ground, and she shouted in surprise. As Halley regained her composure, Mercury spoke.

"Halley Cabrio, daughter of Mercury!" he said loudly.

Halley gave a small wave as she shot a thought message at her dad. _Let me down!_

Mercury smirked as he waved his hand and Halley's shoes gently lowered her to the ground. Had her arm not still been in a sling, he probably would've just let her fall, but he was feeling generous.

Aphrodite spoke next. She stayed in her Greek form, but she did make it to where the Roman demigods saw her as Aphrodite and not Venus. She also stayed in her throne, but made it very obvious which hero was her child. With a wave of her hand, the love goddess made Piper glow pink once again. During her two hours she had to get ready, Piper had tried her best to make herself look presentable for her mother. She had had the faintest feeling that Aphrodite would make her all "beautified" again if she didn't. The glowing pink was enough to gain attention though.

"Piper McLean," Aphrodite cooed proudly. "Daughter of Aphrodite."

Piper gave a small wave and forced a smile. She didn't really like all of the attention.

Aphrodite waved her hand again and the pink faded, which Piper was thankful for.

Next it was Leo's turn to be embarrassed. Hephaestus didn't do anything spectacular to point out who Leo was to the crowd. He just said gruffly: "Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. Builder of the _Argo II._"

Leo blinked at the mention of his boat. Was that thing still in Athens? Hephaestus answered his question.

"The _Argo II_ is docked off the sky deck, if anyone wants to see it," he said.

Athena cleared her throat. She gestured to where Annabeth was standing.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."

Annabeth smiled and waved. This was something she was used to, though it was a bit odd because no one was planning on killing them yet.

Zeus and Poseidon seemed to be having a silent argument. After a few moments of debating that no one else could hear, Zeus (in Jupiter form) spoke up.

"Jason Grace," Jupiter announced. "Son of Jupiter, conqueror of the giant Porphyrion."

Jason raised his hand in a half salute.

Poseidon spoke last.

"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. Conqueror of Porphyrion. And newest immortal of Olympus."

Percy did as the others had. He gave a small wave, and then lowered his hand.

Hera stood up from her throne and shrunk down to the size of a normal mortal. She walked up and stood beside the seven heroes. (Apollo had returned to his seat.)

"Heroes, before the gods give you our reward, I believe your fellow demigods have something for you."

Seven half-bloods stepped out from the group: Thalia, Nico, Luke, Will Solace, Clarisse, and the Stoll brothers. Each of them was holding a golden laurel wreath. Behind them, Chiron approached the seven heroes. His hooves clopped on the stones of the floor. As the seven campers presented the laurels, Chiron spoke.

"In the days of Ancient Greece, heroes were often rewarded with laurel wreaths. In those days, these wreaths were the highest prize someone could receive."

The seven heroes knelt as the others set the wreaths on their heads. The majority of them were trying hard not to snicker at the corniness of it all.

The seven Greek campers moved back as seven new campers stepped forward, all Roman campers, and each was holding a wooden sword. Upon seeing the swords, Percy and Leo did start snickering, which earned them both an elbow in the ribs from Annabeth and Halley. The Roman campers (Dakota, Emily, Mark, Hazel, Gwen, Bobby, and Adria) presented the swords to the heroes while Lupa spoke.

"During the Roman Empire, wooden swords were given to gladiators upon their retirement. We continue this tradition at our camp by giving swords to the campers that have completed their training and are ready to leave camp. But the wooden sword can also be used to symbolize an end to fighting."

The swords and Lupa's short speech had a little more affect on the heroes than the wreaths did. But the wreaths were also an honorary thing, something used to show that they were heroes. The swords, on the other hand, showed that their days of fighting were over.

Piper and Leo both looked a little shocked. For them, it felt like their days of fighting had ended before they had really even started. Sure, they had done a lot of fighting in their six months of knowing they were demigods, but could it really all be over in six months?

The other five had a different reaction compared to those two. For them, an end to fighting was like making them choose a whole other career path. Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances. They were both thinking the same thing: What now?

Jason, Reyna, and Halley were definitely the most affected by the swords. They had seen plenty of half-bloods be given wooden swords before; at the Roman camp, it was something that all the campers strived to get, because it meant that they could go out into the real world and live. But that usually didn't happen until after a camper's twentieth birthday, when they started losing their demigod scent.

They didn't get much time to think about that, though, because Hera spoke up again.

"And now for the gods' gift," she said. Looking at each of the heroes, she smiled brightly. "Heroes of Olympus. The gods want to reward you with the most highest honor we can."

The seven's eyes grew wide as they exchanged glances with each other.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," Hera continued, picking up on the heroes' thoughts. "We want to make you all immortal."

**So, yeah this chapter is pretty short, but my last two were really long so this one's okay! I'm not sure how many more chapters there will be, but don't count on it being too many. Also, the next update for this story might take a while, because I need to update my other story The Most Wanted. Feel free to read that story too guys. When I finish up with this story, I've been debating on doing a follow up for this, just because I love this story line. If I did that, it would probably be a series of one shots about the characters' lives after Heart of a Hero. That's about as much I can give away for that without giving out too much info about the end of this story :)**

**Oh, and the title of Reyna's book was _The Struggle Against Giants._  
**

**Review! **


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey guys guess what! Percy's birthday yesterday! Happy b-day Percy! I tried super hard to get this chapter done in time to post it on his actual birthday… but it didn't work out that way, so I posted it now :) And I'm sorry to say… this is our final chapter :( Buuuut… I'm doing the follow up! So yes, it will be there! YAY!**

**So, without further ado, ENJOY! =)**

Chapter 19: Unexpected Ending

It was Piper's idea to ask for more time. Even though the seven had been expecting something like this, they didn't know how to respond immediately. So Piper asked the gods if they could possibly have some time to think things over before they gave an answer. At first, the gods didn't seem totally thrilled about it, but they finally did agree to it.

After agreeing to that, they had Percy and Jason sign the peace treaty between the two camps. Mark and Clarisse had already signed in their position of army commanders. The treaty also extended to the Hunters, so Adria and Thalia got to sign too. They doubted the Hunters would have as great a risk of difficulties as the camps, so signing the treaty was really just for show.

When all the business was done, it was time to celebrate. A huge, Olympic size party, (complete with gigantic feast of a dinner) that didn't end until very late at night. The seven heroes tried to enjoy it, but they all had their minds on other things.

…

Percy and Annabeth decided to go for a walk in the gardens, where it was relatively quiet. Everyone else was still at the party, so they had the gardens to themselves. For the first few minutes, they didn't say anything, just walked and held hands, but after awhile the silence got to be too much for Annabeth.

"I'm going to accept the gods' offer, Percy," she announced.

Percy looked at her with a bit of surprise. "You are?" he asked.

Annabeth nodded, not meeting his gaze. "I figure it's the only way they'll let us be together," she whispered.

"But… if you become immortal, you'll never be able to become an architect," Percy said. "That's what you've always dreamed about."

"I know Percy, but…" Annabeth stopped walking. She turned around to face him, but couldn't look him in the face.

Percy frowned and cupped her chin in his hand, raising it up so she would look at him.

"What is it Annabeth?"

Annabeth looked Percy in the eyes. With a faint smile she kissed him. When they pulled apart, she said "I'd rather spend forever with you Seaweed Brain than design a million buildings. And besides, as an immortal goddess, I can influence the thoughts of great architects forever."

Percy laughed. "That's a scary thought, Wise Girl."

He pulled her in closer and kissed her again, but Annabeth pulled away.

"So how are we going to explain this to your mom and my dad?" She said with a grin.

"Uh, I didn't think about that." Percy frowned, but it quickly faded with a laugh. "You know, the entire time we were fighting over in Greece, I didn't really stop to think about how my mom would react to me being immortal."

Annabeth laughed. "It'll be fun to find out. But I think now we should probably start heading back. The others are bound to realize we're missing soon. And we don't need them getting any wrong ideas."

"Yeah, there's no telling what some people might think," Percy agreed. With a smirk he added "Especially if their names are Connor and Travis Stoll."

The pair laughed as they turned to head back to the party, but found their path blocked by two gods: Athena and Poseidon.

Both Percy's and Annabeth's mouths dropped open as they stared at their parents. Poseidon looked amused, while Athena had an angry look in her eyes.

"Uh, hi, Dad," Percy stammered. "Lady Athena."

"Hello Percy," Poseidon replied. "Hello Annabeth."

"Lord Poseidon," Annabeth said, bowing her head in his direction. "Hi Mom."

Athena nodded in response.

"Um, what are you guys doing here?" Percy asked.

"Really, Poseidon," Athena scoffed, turning towards her companion, "Can you not allow your children to have _some_ intelligence?"

"It was an honest question," Poseidon said. He turned to Percy. "We came to see you. Athena wanted to talk to Annabeth, and I came along to make sure she…" he glanced at Athena who was glaring at him with her gray eyes. "Er, never mind."

Percy glanced nervously at Athena. Poseidon didn't need to finish his statement. Beside him, Annabeth was looking at her mom with a worried expression. She gripped Percy's hand tighter, which only displeased Athena more.

"Follow me, Annabeth," the goddess instructed. She turned and walked off to another part of the gardens.

Annabeth reluctantly let go of Percy's hand. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and then followed after her mother.

Percy watched her go, and then turned back to the god standing right in front of him.

"So, uh, Dad…" he said, shifting from foot to foot. "You didn't come to talk to me?"

Poseidon laughed. "No, I did. I just figured it might be safer for you if I gave Athena a reason to leave. Not that Annabeth would let her do anything to you anyway."

"No, probably not." Percy grinned.

"Anyway, I did mean to talk to you about you're immortality," Poseidon stated, going straight to the point.

Percy blinked. He hadn't been expecting that. "Uh, sure okay."

"As you probably figured out, the offer we gave the other six doesn't really count towards you," Poseidon said. "But that doesn't mean we've left you out. Anything you want can be yours, as long as it's within our power to give."

Percy thought for a minute. He looked in the direction Annabeth and Athena had gone.

"Annabeth said she was going to accept the offer," Percy murmured. "But I think the only reason she's going to is because I'm immortal."

Poseidon considered this. "If you want, we might be able to take away your immortality."

…

"So, you are going to choose immortality?" Athena asked Annabeth when they were far enough away from Percy and Poseidon.

Annabeth nodded. "I'm pretty sure I am," she answered. "But…" She sighed, not sure how to continue.

"Is the only reason you are going to accept our offer is because of that… Poseidon spawn?" Athena asked with obvious distaste.

"Mom, I know you don't really approve of me dating Percy, but I love him," Annabeth stated. "And if the only way we can be together is if I become immortal then I'll do it."

Athena started to respond, but was interrupted when Percy came running down the path.

"Annabeth!" he called. "You don't have to become immortal!"

Annabeth grabbed onto Percy's arms and stared at him in disbelief. "What are you talking about, Percy?"

"My dad said I could give up my immortality," Percy said. "We can stay together, and you can still live out your architect dream."

"Do you know how corny you sound right now?" Annabeth asked with a smirk.

"Yeah," Percy said. "So?"

"So you're okay with not being immortal?" Annabeth asked. "Just so you can be with me?"

Percy smiled. "Duh. Besides, I never really wanted to be immortal anyway. It was kind of given to me involuntarily. I was looking forward to growing old with you."

Annabeth laughed as Percy pulled her into a hug. They ignored the fact that Athena was standing behind them until the goddess cleared her throat.

"Have you two made your decision," Athena asked impatiently.

Annabeth glanced up at Percy then at her mother. "I think we have Mom," she replied with a smile.

…

Thalia had been looking all over for Jason until she finally found him sitting alone in a semi-quiet corner. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he was asleep, but Thalia knew better.

"Hey bro," she said with a smirk.

Jason opened one eye and looked up at her. "Hey Thals," he muttered.

"Care if I sit with you?" Thalia asked. She sat down without waiting for a response. "So, thinking about immortality?"

Jason frowned. "Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"Well let's see," Thalia started. "You're sitting in a corner by yourself, and that look on your face says you're thinking about something."

Jason sighed. "Okay, fine. You caught me. I'm ditching the party to think. Scary, right?"

"If you were Percy, it would be scary," Thalia said with a laugh. "But I understand why, so it's okay."

"What are you doing here?" Jason asked after an awkward pause.

"Piper had been looking all over the place for you, and I decided to help her."

Jason nodded and leaned back against the wall. After another pause, he spoke up.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Sis. I mean, I turned it down last year when the offered it to me…"

"They offered you immortality?" Thalia asked.

Jason nodded. "Yeah. Last year, after I defeated Krios. But I turned it down because… well, I don't even remember why… I think it was actually because I wanted to try and find you. Up until that point I had thought you were dead, but then we heard that the prophecy had been fulfilled…"

"And you thought the hero of the prophecy was me?"

"You were the only person I could think of it being. I didn't know about Percy or Nico, and Adria is a Hunter, so I knew it wasn't her."

"Huh," Thalia said, with a faint smile. "You know that's one of the reasons I joined the Hunt, right? I joined one day before I turned sixteen so I wouldn't be the hero from the prophecy. I wanted Percy to have that job."

Jason smirked at the thought of that.

"Maybe I can help you with your decision," Thalia said.

"How?" Jason asked.

"Well, I'm part immortal, remember? And I can tell you that, even though it's great being immortal, sometimes I do wish that I wasn't. I'm never going to grow up and finish living my life."

"Is it worth it though?"

"That depends on what you want to do with your life," Thalia said. "If you have big dreams, then maybe it's not. But think about it, do you really want to peak you're life before you even start your junior year?"

"Not really," Jason muttered.

…

"So I hear you're the new head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin," Piper heard a perky, female voice behind her say.

She turned around and found herself face to face with a beautiful girl with black hair and blue eyes.

"I am," Piper responded. "And I think I know who you are. You're Silena Beauregard, aren't you?"

Silena smiled. "That's me. And you're Piper McLean, daughter of…"

"Aphrodite," Piper interrupted with a smirk.

"I was going to say Tristan McLean," Silena said. "I know you're the daughter of Aphrodite. You wouldn't be the head counselor of the cabin if you weren't."

"Annabeth said you were smart for an Aphrodite girl," Piper replied.

"I'll take that as a complement," Silena said, sitting now on a nearby park bench made of silver. "Care to sit and talk for a while? If you're not too freaked out to talk to a girl who came back from the dead just this morning."

"It's not the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Piper muttered. "Especially not the weirdest thing I've seen in the past week." She walked over and sat down next to Silena. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Are you going to become immortal?" Silena asked, straight to the point.

Piper was a little taken aback by Silena's forwardness. She stuttered her answer. "I… I'm not sure. I… I haven't really considered it."

"You know, if you do become immortal, it'll almost as if you died."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"I mean, you'll stay as you are for the rest of eternity. All the other demigods you know now, they'll keep growing up, and you're frozen in time. It's sort of like that in Elysium. I'm not saying it was horrible; I do get to be with Charlie, but it's not the same as if I was still alive."

"But you're alive now," Piper stated. She paused as another thought occurred to her. "They are gonna let you guys stay alive, right?"

Silena nodded. "It's sort of our reward for helping you guys fight Khione's army. So now I get to continue living my life..." She looked up and smiled at the large African American boy walking towards them with Leo. "With Charlie."

Piper noticed who Silena was looking at. "Is that him?" she asked.

"Yep," Silena said, standing up to hug Beckendorf. Piper glanced at Leo. He looked thoughtful, and something told Piper that the two sons of Hephaestus had been having a very similar conversation that she and Silena had.

Piper glanced back at Silena and Beckendorf. She could tell they were happy together. That's when Piper figured out what she needed to do.

"Hey, uh, guys," she said, "I need to go find Jason. I'll see you later."

…

Reyna stood at the skywalk and looked out over New York. In the market area behind her, the party was still going on. But Reyna wasn't really in the mood to party. Like the other six, she was trying to decide what she wanted to do with her future.

"You know, accepting the gods' offer actually wouldn't be a bad idea for you," a female voice said behind her.

Reyna turned to see Alley standing behind her. She was standing there smirking, with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Alley!" Reyna exclaimed. "You're… you're not a ghost."

"Nope," Alley said grinning. "I'm totally here in the flesh and half-blood."

Reyna rolled her eyes. "That's a really bad pun Alley."

Alley shrugged. "Yeah, so?" She walked up and stood next to Reyna at the railing. "I wasn't joking about the immortality. It would make sense for you to accept the offer."

"What do you mean, Alley?" Reyna asked. "I'm already a Hunter…"

"Exactly," Alley said. "You're already part immortal. Why not go ahead and become a full immortal goddess?"

Reyna considered this. "I guess you're right…" she murmured.

"You know I'm right," Alley stated with a smirk. "But Rey, you know you're destiny is different from others from this point on, right? Whatever decision they make about this shouldn't have any effect on you."

"I know," Reyna sighed. "And I'm not going to let them effect me."

"Good," Alley replied. She turned out to face the market, where the party was slowly dying down. "You know they're going to decide what they want to do as a group."

"Yeah, I know."

"So what are you going to do?" Alley asked, though the way she asked it made Reyna think that she knew exactly what she was going to do.

Reyna just smiled at her. "You're the seer. You tell me." With that comment, Reyna walked off in the direction of the seven's house.

…

When the seven finally managed to escape the party, they all crashed in the living room of their house. Thalia and Adria were staying with the Hunters. Luke, Dakota, and Nico were all staying in the house the gods had provided for Hermes kids, where the Stolls had promised an all out poker game. Nico was mostly watching. He had learned with much experience to not gamble with Hermes kids. Playing against the four of them would definitely be financial suicide. Grover had gone back to camp to see Juniper.

Now the seven of them were just sitting around staring at each other blankly. They were all thinking about their own decisions.

Finally, Annabeth spoke up. "I'm not going to accept the gods' offer," she announced.

They all looked at her in surprise. Especially when they saw the grins on hers and Percy's faces.

"But, isn't that the only way you and Percy can be together?" Piper asked.

Percy's grin got wider. "Nope," he said. "My dad said I could give up my immortality if I wanted to. And besides, what the fun in living forever as a god who does nothing? Being a half-blood is way more interesting.

"So you're both giving up immortality?" Halley asked. "Just because you think the life of a god isn't interesting?"

Percy and Annabeth nodded. "That's part of it," Annabeth said.

Halley sighed. "Glad I'm not the only crazy one."

The rest of the group looked at her.

"What do you mean Hals?" Reyna asked.

"Well, uh…" Halley shifted in her seat. "I'm not accepting their offer either. I realized that I have way too much going for me as a half-blood and I don't want to give that up."

"You're staying a half-blood?" Leo asked her.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Halley replied with a laugh. She raised an eyebrow at Leo. "What about you?"

Leo gave a slight smile. "Call me a whack job, but I'm staying a half-blood too. Like you guys said, being a half-blood is more interesting."

"Are the gods going to be upset with all of us not accepting their offer?" Piper asked.

"What do you mean by 'all of us'," Annabeth asked.

Jason cleared his throat. "We," he said, gesturing to himself and Piper, "aren't going accept the offer either."

They all looked around at each other in shock. Then, all at once, they started laughing.

"What are the gods going to think?" Halley asked between laughs. "Especially since this is Jason's second time turning down immortality."

"They've offered you immortality before?" Percy asked Jason.

Jason nodded. "Yeah, after the titan war."

Percy laughed. "And you turned it down." He looked at Annabeth. "They weren't joking when they said that he was my Roman counterpart."

"So all of you are going to remain half-bloods," Reyna stated quietly.

"It seems like it," Halley said with a grin.

"What are you going to do Reyna," Annabeth asked.

Reyna looked down at her lap and didn't respond.

"Rey," Halley said. "What is it?"

"I'm going to accept the offer," Reyna said. "There's no reason for me to not. I'm a Hunter, so I'm part immortal anyway."

"Oh, that's right," Halley murmured. "You're a Hunter now."

Reyna looked up at her. "Don't be upset about it, Hals. You've…"

Halley held her hand up. "Just shut up before you make us both cry."

The group sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally Leo decided to speak up.

"So, uh… how'd you guys like the party?" he asked with a smirk.

The others laughed as they pelted him with throw cushions.

…

The next morning the seven heroes went to tell the gods their decision. The gods were surprisingly okay with the fact that Reyna was the only one who accepted their offer.

They removed Percy's immortality first. It was very obvious, but the faint green glow that had been around him slowly faded until it vanished completely. Percy stumbled a little and Annabeth caught him.

"Are you okay, Percy?" she asked.

Percy nodded as he stood up. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Reyna, step forward," Artemis said.

Reyna glanced back at the others in the group. After receiving a small thumbs-up from Halley and Piper, and reassuring smiles Leo and Jason, she stepped forward.

"Reyna Matthews," Apollo stated, "You have chosen to accept out offer and become immortal." The god stepped down from his throne and changed into human form. "Give me your hands Reyna."

Reyna held her hands out towards her dad. When the god's hands came in contact with Reyna's hands, a golden glow started to form around them. Apollo released Reyna's hands and backed away. Reyna lifted her hands in front of her face as the glow spread from her hands and up her arms. As the glow continued to grow around Reyna, it blended with silver light. It continued to grow brighter and brighter until it lit the entire room.

The other six stood in awe as they watched the glow start to dim. When it finally dimmed enough for them to see Reyna again, they saw the daughter of Apollo grinning.

"Welcome to Olympus, Reyna," Hera said loudly.

…

Later that afternoon, the six were sitting around the lake at Camp Half Blood, trying to decide what they were going to do now that they had the rest of their demigod lives to live.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Halley said. She looked over at Leo. "Me and you are heading out to Texas. You're going to meet my mom."

Leo's eyes got wide. "You're serious?"

"Of course I am," Halley insisted. "My mom would love to meet you. She… she's never given up on your case."

"Really?" Leo asked. "But I thought they closed it a long time ago."

"They did," Halley stated. "But my mom can see through the Mist. She could see more about the warehouse than the other inspectors could. She's always thought that it wasn't completely your fault."

"Huh," Leo said, leaning back on his arms. "Well that's nice to know."

"I probably need to check in with my mom too," Percy said. "I haven't talked to her in weeks and she's probably worried sick about me."

"I'll go with you," Annabeth said. "I can call my dad from there. I'm not exactly ready to go back to San Francisco yet."

"Hey that reminds me," Halley exclaimed. "You guys have to give me a tour of Camp Half Blood. And Annabeth, when you do go to Frisco, let me know. I'll come and give you a tour of our camp."

Annabeth grinned. "Sure Halley. Sounds great."

They stood up. The five that were experienced with being around Camp Half Blood led the way, showing Halley everything, as if they hadn't returned from a life-threatening quest just a day ago, and had given up immortality earlier that morning. It was as if they had never been to Greece.

But they would never be able to forget the quest. Because of it, their lives would never be the same. They didn't know what would happen in their future, except that whatever did happen, they could handle it. Because after fighting against giants, it was hard for anything to challenge them.

…

That night, Percy and Annabeth were walking along the beach. They were holding hands and talking about random things. Percy brought up the prophecy.

"You know, now that the old prophecy is complete, Rachel's probably going to spout a new one anytime now," he said.

"Oh gods, Percy. I don't know if I could handle another one," Annabeth replied with a laugh.

Percy smirked. "Yeah, but I really doubt it would be us in it this time. Being part of two is enough for one lifetime."

"Enough for two, really," Annabeth said. "But that's what you said about this one last summer. That it wouldn't be us."

"I also said it wouldn't be camp if it was peaceful," Percy recalled. "But, I have a strong feeling that we've completed our share of wars and major fighting. So now we really can kick back and relax."

Annabeth sighed. "I hope your right, Percy."

Percy squeezed her hand. "You're worrying over nothing, Wise Girl. Rachel hasn't even given a new prophecy. And the gods don't have any more enemies, right?"

"Well, there's still Gaea," Annabeth muttered.

"The gods are working on that," Percy said reassuringly. "Soon, we'll be fine."

"Right…" Annabeth said quietly. She was about to say something else when Halley and Leo came running up to them.

"Guys," Leo panted, out of breath. "It's… it's…"

"What is it Leo?" Annabeth asked.

"Rachel," Halley said, still trying to catch her breath too. "She…"

"Oh crap," Percy muttered.

Annabeth covered her eyes with her hand. "What did she say?" she asked cautiously.

Halley glanced at Leo. Piper and Jason had joined the group, both out of breath. Halley took a deep breath and recited the prophecy.

"_Greeks and Romans, at last combined,_

_Return the heroes with fates intertwined._

_Worlds torn apart with hate and sorrow,_

_Few remain, but more shall follow._

_Search with their eyes to find the light,_

_Only one life can set things right._

_Until the end must they remain,_

_The god, the hero, and the lost love __to __reclaim._

When Halley finished, they all stood around looking at each other, not able to speak for a while. Leo, unsurprisingly, was the first to speak.

"What I don't get," he said, "is how Gaea can still be a threat to us. She's still asleep, so she can't affect us directly, and she has nothing else to throw at us."

"That's not true, Leo," Annabeth murmured. "There's still one thing that's more dangerous than anything else we've been up against."

Leo's eyes widened. "What do you mean? What could be worse than titans, giants, and Typhon?"

Annabeth looked him straight in the eyes. The emotion Leo saw in her eyes scared him, because even after every challenge he had seen her go through, Leo had never seen more fear in Annabeth's eyes than he did right then.

With one word, Annabeth answered everyone's questions and confirmed their worst fears.

"Ourselves."

**And thus the end of Heroes of Olympus: Heart of a Hero. But don't fret… the follow up is coming soon. And the title of that is….. **

**Heroes of Olympus: The Later Years**

**That is, unless someone can come up with a better one. Review with ideas if you have them. I'll post an AN on this story when I do post the follow up, so you guys will know it's up!**

**Oh, and I can't promise how soon that will be… I'm starting school in a week… bleh:P**

**Review :)**


	21. Author's Note

Soooo, I'm debating on what to do with my follow up for this story. I have plenty of great ideas, but I don't exactly know how to throw them altogether into one story. And, on top of that, we all know that The Son of Neptune is coming out Tuesday, and I'm pretty sure that the Roman characters I used that were mentioned in TLH (Reyna, Hazel) are not even remotely similar to Rick Riordan's characters.

Also, while I (hopefully) have your guys attention, I would like to say that my other story, The Most Wanted, will hopefully be updated soon. I also want to say that while I originally planned to make that series a five part, I believe now that I'm going to make it a three part.

If you guys have any ideas for either story, let me know. I'd love to hear from ya'll. :)

ArcherDaughterofApollo


	22. Another AN

Alrighty guys! I'm super psyched to tell you that I have finally posted my follow-up to Heart of a Hero! It is titled: Heroes of Olympus: Fight to the Finish. Hope you'll read it! -ArcherDaughterofApollo 


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